Research Director

Melinda Jackson, Ph.D.
Melinda.Jackson@sjsu.edu
408-924-5293

Dr. Jackson holds a Ph.D. in Political Science with concentrations in American Politics, Research Methods, and Political Psychology, from the University of Minnesota. She is an Assistant Professor in the San José State University Department of Political Science.

Dr. Jackson is an expert in public opinion and voting behavior, and has published research on these topics in a variety of academic journals and books. She has over 10 years of experience in survey research, including experimental, quantitative and qualitative methods.

Since joining the San José State University faculty in 2005, Dr. Jackson has served as the Survey Director for the California Consumer Confidence Survey, and provided numerous media interviews on local, state and national political issues to the San Jose Mercury News, San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times, San Diego Union Tribune, Associated Press, Reuters, Bay City News Service, KNTV Channel 11, KPIX Channel 5, KGO Channel 7, KTVU Channel 2, KTSF Channel 26, Unavision, KCBS, KFBK, KLIV, and others.

Staff

Research Operations Manager: Vinay Murthy

Student Interviewers: SPRI maintains a pool of highly trained, culturally competent, primary language interviewers. Student interviewers undergo an intensive training process and are supervised by SPRI's Ph.D. staff, ensuring that clients receive high quality, reliable survey data.

Research Operations Intern : Cecilia O'Donnell