Marilyn L. Mitchell is a cultural anthropologist with extensive experience in quantitative and qualitative research design, interviewing techniques, cultural analysis, survey development, sampling, and forecasting. She works as an independent researcher and as an associate of Gray Insight, for clients that have included dozens of Fortune 500 companies, educational institutions, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations in the United States and nearly 100 other countries. She has lectured on social science research and related topics at University of California, Los Angeles , University of Southern California, San Francisco State University, the Nissan Summer Institute for Instructors at Historically Black Colleges, Chapman University, the U.S. Army’s Human Terrain Systems, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Marilyn earned her BA, MA, and PhD in cultural anthropology and BS in biology from the University of California at Irvine and conducted her dissertation research at the National Museum of Ethnology in Osaka, Japan. She is also the author of Employing Qualitative Methods in the Private Sector (Sage, 1998).
Each year, academic institutions produce thousands of social science graduates, skilled in applied social research - many more than can be absorbed into the teaching profession. In this volume, Marilyn Mitchell provides information often left out of the social science curriculum - how and where can social scientists put their skills to use in the private sector? The book outlines some of the basic private sector research settings, and then provides clear and sensible advice on how to rename skills and market most effectively to the business community. Mitchell, herself employed in the private sector, also examines project and business management.
