Norman H. Nie
Encyclopedia
Norman H. Nie is an American social scientist, university professor, inventor, and pioneering technology entrepreneur. Born in St. Louis, Missouri
in 1943, Dr. Nie was educated at the University of the Americas in Mexico City, Washington University in St. Louis and Stanford University
, where he received a Ph.D. in political science in 1971.
.
Together with two young computer scientists, C. Hadlai (“Tex”) Hull and Dale Bent, Nie invented a computer software package called the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS
). SPSS
automated the process of data analysis, allowing users to manipulate data files, transform data, and generate statistics on a mainframe computer. Nie served as CEO from the company’s founding in 1975 until 1992 and continued as Chairman of the Board and software design consultant until 2008. SPSS has been a publicly traded company on the NASDAQ since 1993. Originally invented to solve the problem of analyzing data for Nie’s dissertation, SPSS soon became widely used among other social scientists and researchers. Along with SAS
, it revolutionized empirical social science. In an essay entitled “Doing It Ourselves: The SPSS Manual as Sociology’s Most Influential Recent Book,” sociologist Barry Wellman wrote:
I have taken a stand here in favor of empowering tools as the most influential sociological development in recent decades. Which is more important? The findings or the tools that enabled us to make them – and many more? Which should we celebrate more? Copernicus’ 16th-century hypothesis of the solar system or Galileo’s 17th-century invention of the telescope that enabled scholars to understand it clearly? It is an irresolvable dialectic between knowing what to look for and knowing how to find something. But if pressed, I would vote for the toolmakers because they give us the eyes to see things.
’s invention, Nie and his colleagues shipped the software to users at cost. But as demand for the product (and its new features and accompanying documentation) expanded, Nie incorporated SPSS and became its president and CEO. During the same period, Norman Nie became one of the most prominent scholars in the field of U.S. politics, particularly the study of American political behavior and public opinion. His intellectual home for 30 years was the University of Chicago
, where he took his first academic appointment in 1968. During his tenure, he was twice chairman of the department. He became emeritus at Chicago in 1998.
In July 2009, IBM announcement its agreement to purchase SPSS for $1.2 billion.
(formerly REvolution Computing) announced that Nie would serve as its new CEO. The company provides commercial software & support for the popular open source R (programming language)
.
In May 2010, Forbes Magazine published an in-depth profile on Nie and Revolution Analytics where he was quoted, "R is an absolutely massive advancement on the kind of analytics I invented. It's an opportunity to change the game in the fastest-growing field in software."
, was Participation in America (1972), which won the Gladys M. Kammerer Award, from the American Political Science Association
(APSA
) for the best book in U.S. national politics. Soon after, Nie wrote The Changing American Voter (1976) with Sidney Verba
and John Petrocik. This major work went on to win the Woodrow Wilson Award
from the APSA for the best book published in political science. Two years later, Nie co-authored a work of comparative politics with Sidney Verba
and Jae-on Kim, Participation and Political Equality (1978). Nie reprised his Woodrow Wilson Award
in 1996, winning the prize for Education and Democratic Citizenship in America, written with Jane Junn and Kenneth Stehlik-Barry.
, where he serves as a research professor in social sciences and business. He remains active as an author and social scientist and published a book on the politics of the 2000 U.S. Census enumeration, The Hard Count (2006), with Ken Prewitt, D. Sunshine Hillygus, and Heili Pals; he is currently working with Yorgos Panzaris on a book on technology and social change. He also writes research articles for academic journals.
, Newsweek
, Miller McCune and other mainstream publications as well as in more academic sources such as Public Perspective, Fortschritte der politischen Kommunikations forschung, and IT & Society.
(AAPOR) for both his technological innovations in survey research and his substantive contributions to the understanding of social and political behavior. He was honored as the KPMG
Technology Entrepreneur of the Year in 1986.
In 2009, Nie was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
in 1943, Dr. Nie was educated at the University of the Americas in Mexico City, Washington University in St. Louis and Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
, where he received a Ph.D. in political science in 1971.
Early Years
While a graduate student at Stanford, Norman Nie was faced with the daunting task of analyzing data from thousands of individual responses to a survey questionnaire he collected from seven nations with his advisor and mentor Sidney VerbaSidney Verba
Sidney Verba is an American political scientist, librarian and library administrator. His academic interests are mainly American and comparative politics. He was the Carl H. Pforzheimer University Professor at Harvard University. He also served Harvard as the director of the Harvard University...
.
Together with two young computer scientists, C. Hadlai (“Tex”) Hull and Dale Bent, Nie invented a computer software package called the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS
SPSS
SPSS is a computer program used for survey authoring and deployment , data mining , text analytics, statistical analysis, and collaboration and deployment ....
). SPSS
SPSS
SPSS is a computer program used for survey authoring and deployment , data mining , text analytics, statistical analysis, and collaboration and deployment ....
automated the process of data analysis, allowing users to manipulate data files, transform data, and generate statistics on a mainframe computer. Nie served as CEO from the company’s founding in 1975 until 1992 and continued as Chairman of the Board and software design consultant until 2008. SPSS has been a publicly traded company on the NASDAQ since 1993. Originally invented to solve the problem of analyzing data for Nie’s dissertation, SPSS soon became widely used among other social scientists and researchers. Along with SAS
SAS
- Special forces :* Special Air Service, a special forces unit of the British Army* Australian Special Air Service Regiment * New Zealand Special Air Service * Rhodesian Special Air Service...
, it revolutionized empirical social science. In an essay entitled “Doing It Ourselves: The SPSS Manual as Sociology’s Most Influential Recent Book,” sociologist Barry Wellman wrote:
I have taken a stand here in favor of empowering tools as the most influential sociological development in recent decades. Which is more important? The findings or the tools that enabled us to make them – and many more? Which should we celebrate more? Copernicus’ 16th-century hypothesis of the solar system or Galileo’s 17th-century invention of the telescope that enabled scholars to understand it clearly? It is an irresolvable dialectic between knowing what to look for and knowing how to find something. But if pressed, I would vote for the toolmakers because they give us the eyes to see things.
Life After SPSS
In the early years after SPSSSPSS
SPSS is a computer program used for survey authoring and deployment , data mining , text analytics, statistical analysis, and collaboration and deployment ....
’s invention, Nie and his colleagues shipped the software to users at cost. But as demand for the product (and its new features and accompanying documentation) expanded, Nie incorporated SPSS and became its president and CEO. During the same period, Norman Nie became one of the most prominent scholars in the field of U.S. politics, particularly the study of American political behavior and public opinion. His intellectual home for 30 years was the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
, where he took his first academic appointment in 1968. During his tenure, he was twice chairman of the department. He became emeritus at Chicago in 1998.
In July 2009, IBM announcement its agreement to purchase SPSS for $1.2 billion.
Revolution Analytics
In October 2009, Revolution AnalyticsRevolution Analytics
Revolution Analytics is a statistical software company focused on developing "open-core" versions of the free and open source software R for enterprise, academic and analytics customers...
(formerly REvolution Computing) announced that Nie would serve as its new CEO. The company provides commercial software & support for the popular open source R (programming language)
R (programming language)
R is a programming language and software environment for statistical computing and graphics. The R language is widely used among statisticians for developing statistical software, and R is widely used for statistical software development and data analysis....
.
In May 2010, Forbes Magazine published an in-depth profile on Nie and Revolution Analytics where he was quoted, "R is an absolutely massive advancement on the kind of analytics I invented. It's an opportunity to change the game in the fastest-growing field in software."
Years in Chicago
Nie’s Chicago years saw the publication of four major books in political science, three of which won prizes of national recognition for scholarly excellence. His first book, written with Sidney VerbaSidney Verba
Sidney Verba is an American political scientist, librarian and library administrator. His academic interests are mainly American and comparative politics. He was the Carl H. Pforzheimer University Professor at Harvard University. He also served Harvard as the director of the Harvard University...
, was Participation in America (1972), which won the Gladys M. Kammerer Award, from the American Political Science Association
American Political Science Association
The American Political Science Association is a professional association of political science students and scholars in the United States. Founded in 1903, it publishes three academic journals...
(APSA
American Political Science Association
The American Political Science Association is a professional association of political science students and scholars in the United States. Founded in 1903, it publishes three academic journals...
) for the best book in U.S. national politics. Soon after, Nie wrote The Changing American Voter (1976) with Sidney Verba
Sidney Verba
Sidney Verba is an American political scientist, librarian and library administrator. His academic interests are mainly American and comparative politics. He was the Carl H. Pforzheimer University Professor at Harvard University. He also served Harvard as the director of the Harvard University...
and John Petrocik. This major work went on to win the Woodrow Wilson Award
Woodrow Wilson Award
Woodrow Wilson Awards are given out multiple times each year by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars of the Smithsonian Institution to individuals in both the public sphere and business who have shown an outstanding commitment to President of the United States Woodrow Wilson's dream...
from the APSA for the best book published in political science. Two years later, Nie co-authored a work of comparative politics with Sidney Verba
Sidney Verba
Sidney Verba is an American political scientist, librarian and library administrator. His academic interests are mainly American and comparative politics. He was the Carl H. Pforzheimer University Professor at Harvard University. He also served Harvard as the director of the Harvard University...
and Jae-on Kim, Participation and Political Equality (1978). Nie reprised his Woodrow Wilson Award
Woodrow Wilson Award
Woodrow Wilson Awards are given out multiple times each year by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars of the Smithsonian Institution to individuals in both the public sphere and business who have shown an outstanding commitment to President of the United States Woodrow Wilson's dream...
in 1996, winning the prize for Education and Democratic Citizenship in America, written with Jane Junn and Kenneth Stehlik-Barry.
Life at Stanford
In 1998, Nie moved to Stanford UniversityStanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
, where he serves as a research professor in social sciences and business. He remains active as an author and social scientist and published a book on the politics of the 2000 U.S. Census enumeration, The Hard Count (2006), with Ken Prewitt, D. Sunshine Hillygus, and Heili Pals; he is currently working with Yorgos Panzaris on a book on technology and social change. He also writes research articles for academic journals.
Stanford Institute for the Quantitative Study of Society
On his arrival at Stanford, Nie started the Stanford Institute for the Quantitative Study of Society (SIQSS), where he serves as director. The Institute is devoted to the pursuit and sponsorship of high-quality empirical social science research about the nature of society and social change. Nie leads a multidisciplinary team of graduate and undergraduate students that includes political scientists, economists, sociologists, and statisticians, among others, in research that includes such diverse topics as how time is spent on the Internet, how Internet access affects political polarization, Latino voter mobilization, and how educational attainment affects future life outcomes. Research from the Institute has appeared in the New York Times, the Boston GlobeThe Boston Globe
The Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Globe has been owned by The New York Times Company since 1993...
, Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
, Miller McCune and other mainstream publications as well as in more academic sources such as Public Perspective, Fortschritte der politischen Kommunikations forschung, and IT & Society.
Other Business Interests
Nie has continued to innovate in the technology and tools field, co-founding the survey research firm Knowledge Networks (KN) with R. Douglas Rivers in 1997; Nie continues to serve as Chairman of the Board of KN. The company remains the only survey vendor to collect survey data over the Internet using probability samples, placing computers into homes that do not have Internet connectivity. Nie has also served as Chairman or board member for a number of high technology firms, including CustomerSat Inc., Vicinity, Lexiquest, and Captura.Awards
Nie is the recipient of awards for research and scholarly achievement as well as professional recognition. In 2006, he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Association for Public Opinion ResearchAmerican Association for Public Opinion Research
The American Association for Public Opinion Research , founded in 1947, is an organization of approximately 1900 survey research professionals from academia, non-profit organizations, polling firms, and government...
(AAPOR) for both his technological innovations in survey research and his substantive contributions to the understanding of social and political behavior. He was honored as the KPMG
KPMG
KPMG is one of the largest professional services networks in the world and one of the Big Four auditors, along with Deloitte, Ernst & Young and PwC. Its global headquarters is located in Amstelveen, Netherlands....
Technology Entrepreneur of the Year in 1986.
In 2009, Nie was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.