Stuart Arthur Rice

Stuart Arthur Rice ( November 21, 1889 - June 4, 1969 ) was a United States sociologist and statistician . He laid the foundation stone for the UN Statistical Commission and the UN Statistical Office (UNSO, now UNSD).

Rice index

Rice is the inventor of the Rice index named after him . Its "Index of Cohesion" essentially shows the difference in the degree of cohesion between two or more political groups in a legislature . Rice argued that if his index shows membership support of 80 percent or more, then there is a cohesive core of members. The problem with the Rice Index is that the 80 percent number was chosen arbitrarily. Rice never had an explanation for this index other than that it made sense.

Life

Rice was born in Wadena Minnesota and attended the University of Washington in Seattle. After college, he got involved in local politics. He received his doctorate in sociology from Columbia University under Franklin H. Giddings in 1924 and taught at various universities. During this time, his main work was in the field of election studies and survey research methods . In 1933 he became chairman of the newly created "Central Statistical Board" in the Bureau of the Budget , where he was chief statistician of the United States until his retirement in 1955.

Rice was elected chairman of the so-called "nuclear session" of the Statistical Commission , which took place in May 1946 at Hunter College in New York and made recommendations for the composition and conditions of a standing commission for statistics and for a statistical organization within the United Nations.

From 1945 onwards, Rice invested a great deal of time and energy in advising foreign governments, including Japan, Korea, and some Western European countries. From 1947 to 1953 he was also President of the International Statistical Institute .

Throughout his career, Rice has fostered the collaboration of statisticians around the world. He founded Stuart A. Rice Associates (later Surveys & Research Corporation), a consulting firm for government and private statistical profit and nonprofit agencies around the world. Rice retired from professional life in the mid-1960s and died in 1969.

literature

CC Heyde, E. Seneta, in Statisticians of the Centuries, ISBN 978-0-387-95283-3

Individual evidence

↑ Michael P. Bobic: With the People's Consent: Howard Baker Leads the Senate 1977-1984 . University Press of America, 2014, ISBN 978-0-7618-6502-5 , pp. 45 ( google.de [accessed on November 18, 2018]).
^ Rice, Stuart Arthur (1889-1969), sociologist, statistician, and government administrator | American National Biography . doi : 10.1093 / anb / 9780198606697.001.0001 / anb-9780198606697-e-1400939 ( anb.org [accessed November 18, 2018]).
↑ CC Heyde, E. Seneta: Statisticians of the Centuries . Springer Science & Business Media, 2001, ISBN 978-0-387-95283-3 , pp. 386–388 ( google.de [accessed November 18, 2018]).

personal data
SURNAME	Rice, Stuart Arthur
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Commission, UN Statistical; Office, UN Statistical
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	United States sociologist and statistician
DATE OF BIRTH	November 21, 1889
DATE OF DEATH	4th June 1969

[1] Michael P. Bobic: With the People's Consent: Howard Baker Leads the Senate 1977-1984 . University Press of America, 2014, ISBN 978-0-7618-6502-5 , pp. 45 ( google.de [accessed on November 18, 2018]).

[2] Rice, Stuart Arthur (1889-1969), sociologist, statistician, and government administrator | American National Biography . doi : 10.1093 / anb / 9780198606697.001.0001 / anb-9780198606697-e-1400939 ( anb.org [accessed November 18, 2018]).

[3] CC Heyde, E. Seneta: Statisticians of the Centuries . Springer Science & Business Media, 2001, ISBN 978-0-387-95283-3 , pp. 386–388 ( google.de [accessed November 18, 2018]).