ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses applying a psycho-social, interview-based methodology to military phenomena. It illustrates the intertwined nature of the research topic and the method used to study it, with the biographies of both the researcher and respondents. Thus, this will be a personal account of the research process and it will address the practicalities of undertaking such emotionally involved, reflexive research. The chapter suggests that psychoanalytic theories can help military researchers to actively address their own unavoidable involvement in the research process. Historically, military research has often been conducted by veterans habituated to the armed forces ethos of stoicism and discipline, an ethos that eschews less pragmatic, more emotional attitudes. In addition to describing the process of conducting psychoanalytically informed reflexive research with service spouses, the chapter also suggests that research on the military is resistant to exploring the diverse feelings and emotional complexities of personnel and their families.
