Losses and gains to the anthropological soul

As an anthropologist, I recently found myself at a disadvantage while applying for funding from a government organization; another academic from the field of marketing and economic research, clearly had the upper hand in this case. Both of us were looking at the preferences of consumers in a specific country for a certain kind of commodity. The funder’s goal is to help the industry, and it was evident that the market researcher would be their first choice. I see two major reasons for this.