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Irene Hess
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<h2 id="life">Life</h2> <p>Hess was born on August 27, 1910, in <a href="/facts/Muhlenberg_County%2c_Kentucky/T5jlqwSt">Muhlenberg County, Kentucky</a>,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4"><sup>4</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5"><sup>5</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6"><sup>6</sup></a> the daughter of a <a href="/facts/Central_City%2c_Kentucky/GywB6yU6">Central City</a> <a href="/facts/Mining_engineering/VEAosBGK">mining engineer</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7"><sup>7</sup></a> After three years of study at <a href="/facts/University_of_Evansville/NugsWK7o">Evansville College</a>,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:8" href="#fn:8"><sup>8</sup></a> she completed her undergraduate studies in mathematics at <a href="/facts/Indiana_University/TELCwWYK">Indiana University</a>, graduating in 1931, and returned home to become a mathematics teacher at a junior high school in Central City.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:9" href="#fn:9"><sup>9</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:10" href="#fn:10"><sup>10</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:11" href="#fn:11"><sup>11</sup></a> </p><p>Beginning in 1940,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:12" href="#fn:12"><sup>12</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:13" href="#fn:13"><sup>13</sup></a> she used the time in her summers off from teaching to study statistics at the <a href="/facts/University_of_Michigan/6e1Ea5xh">University of Michigan</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:14" href="#fn:14"><sup>14</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:15" href="#fn:15"><sup>15</sup></a> Although she earned no degree from this study, her work there provided her with enough statistical experience to pass the <a href="/facts/Civil_service_entrance_examination/eTCaQlNv">civil service entrance examination</a>, preparing her for wartime service in the U.S. <a href="/facts/Bureau_of_Labor_Statistics/BwSDI1GE">Bureau of Labor Statistics</a> and the <a href="/facts/National_Institute_of_Standards_and_Technology/gr9Fnh85">Bureau of Standards</a>, where she helped work on bomb fuses. After the war, she moved again, to the <a href="/facts/United_States_Census_Bureau/heKtzoXX">Census Bureau</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:16" href="#fn:16"><sup>16</sup></a> </p><p>She joined the Institute for Social Research in 1954, and later became its director when its founding director, <a href="/facts/Leslie_Kish/oy1EYwHC">Leslie Kish</a>, stepped down.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:17" href="#fn:17"><sup>17</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:18" href="#fn:18"><sup>18</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:19" href="#fn:19"><sup>19</sup></a> She faced mandatory retirement at age 70, in 1981,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:20" href="#fn:20"><sup>20</sup></a> but continued to be active in statistics and in the institute.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:21" href="#fn:21"><sup>21</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:22" href="#fn:22"><sup>22</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:23" href="#fn:23"><sup>23</sup></a> </p><p>In 1977, she became the founding chair of the Section on Survey Research Methods of the <a href="/facts/American_Statistical_Association/QzF1h4Dx">American Statistical Association</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:24" href="#fn:24"><sup>24</sup></a> </p><p>She died on July 5, 2009.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:25" href="#fn:25"><sup>25</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:26" href="#fn:26"><sup>26</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:27" href="#fn:27"><sup>27</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="selected-publications">Selected publications</h2> <p>Along with many papers with Leslie Kish, Hess is the author or co-author of:<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:28" href="#fn:28"><sup>28</sup></a> </p> <ul><li><i>Probability Sampling of Hospitals and Patients</i> (with Donald C. Reidel, and Thomas Fitzpatrick, 1961)<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:29" href="#fn:29"><sup>29</sup></a></li> <li><i>Sampling for Social Research Surveys</i> (1995)</li> <li><i>Controlled Selection Continued</i> (with Steven G. Heeringa, 2002)</li> <li><i>The Practice of Survey Research at the Survey Research Center, 1947–1980</i> (2005)</li></ul> <h2 id="awards-and-honors">Awards and honors</h2> <p>Hess became a <a href="/facts/Fellow_of_the_American_Statistical_Association/28q8c5Yt">Fellow of the American Statistical Association</a> in 1972.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:30" href="#fn:30"><sup>30</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="references">References</h2> <ol> <li id="fn:1"><p>"Obituaries for December 2009", Amstat News, American Statistical Association, December 1, 2009, retrieved 2017-10-22 <a href="http://magazine.amstat.org/blog/2009/12/01/obitsdec0/" target="_blank">http://magazine.amstat.org/blog/2009/12/01/obitsdec0/</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:2"><p>Swanbrow, Diane (July 13, 2009), "Obituary: Irene Hess", University Record, University of Michigan, archived from the original on 2022-01-26, retrieved 2017-10-22 <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220126191908/https://www.ur.umich.edu/0809/Jul13_09/obits.php" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20220126191908/https://www.ur.umich.edu/0809/Jul13_09/obits.php</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:3"><p>Shields, Patrick, Irene Hess dies at 98, University of Michigan Institute for Social Research, retrieved 2017-10-22 <a href="http://home.isr.umich.edu/sampler/irene-hess-dies-at-98/" target="_blank">http://home.isr.umich.edu/sampler/irene-hess-dies-at-98/</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:4"><p>"Obituaries for December 2009", Amstat News, American Statistical Association, December 1, 2009, retrieved 2017-10-22 <a href="http://magazine.amstat.org/blog/2009/12/01/obitsdec0/" target="_blank">http://magazine.amstat.org/blog/2009/12/01/obitsdec0/</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:5"><p>Swanbrow, Diane (July 13, 2009), "Obituary: Irene Hess", University Record, University of Michigan, archived from the original on 2022-01-26, retrieved 2017-10-22 <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220126191908/https://www.ur.umich.edu/0809/Jul13_09/obits.php" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20220126191908/https://www.ur.umich.edu/0809/Jul13_09/obits.php</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:6"><p>Shields, Patrick, Irene Hess dies at 98, University of Michigan Institute for Social Research, retrieved 2017-10-22 <a href="http://home.isr.umich.edu/sampler/irene-hess-dies-at-98/" target="_blank">http://home.isr.umich.edu/sampler/irene-hess-dies-at-98/</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:7"><p>"Obituaries for December 2009", Amstat News, American Statistical Association, December 1, 2009, retrieved 2017-10-22 <a href="http://magazine.amstat.org/blog/2009/12/01/obitsdec0/" target="_blank">http://magazine.amstat.org/blog/2009/12/01/obitsdec0/</a> <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:8"><p>"Sampling Is in the Details: Interview with Irene Hess" (PDF), Statisticians in history, Amstat News, American Statistical Association, pp. 7–10, September 2008, archived from the original (PDF) on July 1, 2017 <a href="https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20170701063325/https://ww2.amstat.org/about/statisticiansinhistory/bios/HessIrene.pdf" target="_blank">https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20170701063325/https://ww2.amstat.org/about/statisticiansinhistory/bios/HessIrene.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:9"><p>"Obituaries for December 2009", Amstat News, American Statistical Association, December 1, 2009, retrieved 2017-10-22 <a href="http://magazine.amstat.org/blog/2009/12/01/obitsdec0/" target="_blank">http://magazine.amstat.org/blog/2009/12/01/obitsdec0/</a> <a href="#fnref:9" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:10"><p>Swanbrow, Diane (July 13, 2009), "Obituary: Irene Hess", University Record, University of Michigan, archived from the original on 2022-01-26, retrieved 2017-10-22 <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220126191908/https://www.ur.umich.edu/0809/Jul13_09/obits.php" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20220126191908/https://www.ur.umich.edu/0809/Jul13_09/obits.php</a> <a href="#fnref:10" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:11"><p>Shields, Patrick, Irene Hess dies at 98, University of Michigan Institute for Social Research, retrieved 2017-10-22 <a href="http://home.isr.umich.edu/sampler/irene-hess-dies-at-98/" target="_blank">http://home.isr.umich.edu/sampler/irene-hess-dies-at-98/</a> <a href="#fnref:11" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:12"><p>"Obituaries for December 2009", Amstat News, American Statistical Association, December 1, 2009, retrieved 2017-10-22 <a href="http://magazine.amstat.org/blog/2009/12/01/obitsdec0/" target="_blank">http://magazine.amstat.org/blog/2009/12/01/obitsdec0/</a> <a href="#fnref:12" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:13"><p>"Sampling Is in the Details: Interview with Irene Hess" (PDF), Statisticians in history, Amstat News, American Statistical Association, pp. 7–10, September 2008, archived from the original (PDF) on July 1, 2017 <a href="https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20170701063325/https://ww2.amstat.org/about/statisticiansinhistory/bios/HessIrene.pdf" target="_blank">https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20170701063325/https://ww2.amstat.org/about/statisticiansinhistory/bios/HessIrene.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:13" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:14"><p>Swanbrow, Diane (July 13, 2009), "Obituary: Irene Hess", University Record, University of Michigan, archived from the original on 2022-01-26, retrieved 2017-10-22 <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220126191908/https://www.ur.umich.edu/0809/Jul13_09/obits.php" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20220126191908/https://www.ur.umich.edu/0809/Jul13_09/obits.php</a> <a href="#fnref:14" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:15"><p>Shields, Patrick, Irene Hess dies at 98, University of Michigan Institute for Social Research, retrieved 2017-10-22 <a href="http://home.isr.umich.edu/sampler/irene-hess-dies-at-98/" target="_blank">http://home.isr.umich.edu/sampler/irene-hess-dies-at-98/</a> <a href="#fnref:15" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:16"><p>"Sampling Is in the Details: Interview with Irene Hess" (PDF), Statisticians in history, Amstat News, American Statistical Association, pp. 7–10, September 2008, archived from the original (PDF) on July 1, 2017 <a href="https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20170701063325/https://ww2.amstat.org/about/statisticiansinhistory/bios/HessIrene.pdf" target="_blank">https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20170701063325/https://ww2.amstat.org/about/statisticiansinhistory/bios/HessIrene.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:16" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:17"><p>"Obituaries for December 2009", Amstat News, American Statistical Association, December 1, 2009, retrieved 2017-10-22 <a href="http://magazine.amstat.org/blog/2009/12/01/obitsdec0/" target="_blank">http://magazine.amstat.org/blog/2009/12/01/obitsdec0/</a> <a href="#fnref:17" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:18"><p>Swanbrow, Diane (July 13, 2009), "Obituary: Irene Hess", University Record, University of Michigan, archived from the original on 2022-01-26, retrieved 2017-10-22 <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220126191908/https://www.ur.umich.edu/0809/Jul13_09/obits.php" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20220126191908/https://www.ur.umich.edu/0809/Jul13_09/obits.php</a> <a href="#fnref:18" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:19"><p>Shields, Patrick, Irene Hess dies at 98, University of Michigan Institute for Social Research, retrieved 2017-10-22 <a href="http://home.isr.umich.edu/sampler/irene-hess-dies-at-98/" target="_blank">http://home.isr.umich.edu/sampler/irene-hess-dies-at-98/</a> <a href="#fnref:19" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:20"><p>"Sampling Is in the Details: Interview with Irene Hess" (PDF), Statisticians in history, Amstat News, American Statistical Association, pp. 7–10, September 2008, archived from the original (PDF) on July 1, 2017 <a href="https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20170701063325/https://ww2.amstat.org/about/statisticiansinhistory/bios/HessIrene.pdf" target="_blank">https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20170701063325/https://ww2.amstat.org/about/statisticiansinhistory/bios/HessIrene.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:20" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:21"><p>"Sampling Is in the Details: Interview with Irene Hess" (PDF), Statisticians in history, Amstat News, American Statistical Association, pp. 7–10, September 2008, archived from the original (PDF) on July 1, 2017 <a href="https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20170701063325/https://ww2.amstat.org/about/statisticiansinhistory/bios/HessIrene.pdf" target="_blank">https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20170701063325/https://ww2.amstat.org/about/statisticiansinhistory/bios/HessIrene.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:21" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:22"><p>Swanbrow, Diane (July 13, 2009), "Obituary: Irene Hess", University Record, University of Michigan, archived from the original on 2022-01-26, retrieved 2017-10-22 <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220126191908/https://www.ur.umich.edu/0809/Jul13_09/obits.php" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20220126191908/https://www.ur.umich.edu/0809/Jul13_09/obits.php</a> <a href="#fnref:22" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:23"><p>Shields, Patrick, Irene Hess dies at 98, University of Michigan Institute for Social Research, retrieved 2017-10-22 <a href="http://home.isr.umich.edu/sampler/irene-hess-dies-at-98/" target="_blank">http://home.isr.umich.edu/sampler/irene-hess-dies-at-98/</a> <a href="#fnref:23" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:24"><p>"Sampling Is in the Details: Interview with Irene Hess" (PDF), Statisticians in history, Amstat News, American Statistical Association, pp. 7–10, September 2008, archived from the original (PDF) on July 1, 2017 <a href="https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20170701063325/https://ww2.amstat.org/about/statisticiansinhistory/bios/HessIrene.pdf" target="_blank">https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20170701063325/https://ww2.amstat.org/about/statisticiansinhistory/bios/HessIrene.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:24" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:25"><p>"Obituaries for December 2009", Amstat News, American Statistical Association, December 1, 2009, retrieved 2017-10-22 <a href="http://magazine.amstat.org/blog/2009/12/01/obitsdec0/" target="_blank">http://magazine.amstat.org/blog/2009/12/01/obitsdec0/</a> <a href="#fnref:25" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:26"><p>Swanbrow, Diane (July 13, 2009), "Obituary: Irene Hess", University Record, University of Michigan, archived from the original on 2022-01-26, retrieved 2017-10-22 <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220126191908/https://www.ur.umich.edu/0809/Jul13_09/obits.php" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20220126191908/https://www.ur.umich.edu/0809/Jul13_09/obits.php</a> <a href="#fnref:26" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:27"><p>Shields, Patrick, Irene Hess dies at 98, University of Michigan Institute for Social Research, retrieved 2017-10-22 <a href="http://home.isr.umich.edu/sampler/irene-hess-dies-at-98/" target="_blank">http://home.isr.umich.edu/sampler/irene-hess-dies-at-98/</a> <a href="#fnref:27" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:28"><p>"Sampling Is in the Details: Interview with Irene Hess" (PDF), Statisticians in history, Amstat News, American Statistical Association, pp. 7–10, September 2008, archived from the original (PDF) on July 1, 2017 <a href="https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20170701063325/https://ww2.amstat.org/about/statisticiansinhistory/bios/HessIrene.pdf" target="_blank">https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20170701063325/https://ww2.amstat.org/about/statisticiansinhistory/bios/HessIrene.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:28" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:29"><p>Reviews of Probability Sampling of Hospitals and Patients: Eugene Levine (Spring 1962), Nursing Research 11 (2): 96, [1]; Sam Shapiro (April 1963), American Journal of Public Health 53 (4): 686–687, doi:10.2105/AJPH.53.4.686-b. <a href="http://journals.lww.com/nursingresearchonline/Citation/1962/01120/Probability_Sampling_of_Hospitals_and_Patients.8.aspx" target="_blank">http://journals.lww.com/nursingresearchonline/Citation/1962/01120/Probability_Sampling_of_Hospitals_and_Patients.8.aspx</a> <a href="#fnref:29" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:30"><p>Fellows list, American Statistical Association, archived from the original on 2017-12-01, retrieved 2017-10-22 <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20171201042456/https://www.amstat.org/ASA/Your-Career/Awards/ASA-Fellows-list.aspx" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20171201042456/https://www.amstat.org/ASA/Your-Career/Awards/ASA-Fellows-list.aspx</a> <a href="#fnref:30" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> </ol>