Employing Qualitative Methods in the Private Sector

Each year, academic institutions produce thousands of social science graduates skilled in applied social researchùmany more than can be absorbed in the teaching profession. In one of the latest volumes in the Qualitative Research Methods series, author Marilyn Mitchell provides information often left out of the social science curriculumùhow and where can social scientists put their skills to use in the private sector? Employing Qualitative Methods in the Private Sector outlines some of the basic private sector research settings and provides clear and sensible advice on how one can rename oneÆs skills and market oneself most effectively to the business community. Mitchell, herself employed in the private sector, also examines project and business management. Straightforward and pragmatic, Employing Qualitative Methods in the Private Sector is an essential tool for the researcher looking for new avenues in which to apply their research.

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).