Irene Hess worked with Leslie Kish, but
also worked with Mildred “Jean” Harter,
seen here with Hess (above and right) in
Hess’ office in the late ‘50 s.
[Hess] Goodman was sold on controlled selection.
[Scheuren] Well, I am too. In fact, one of my former students,
Yan Liu, did her dissertation on balanced sampling with me—a
related idea.
[Hess] Goodman’s family was here in Michigan, so he came in one
Leslie Kish, ASA president in 1977;
he passed away in 2000.
day concerned about how well-controlled selection by computer
is compared with hand-drawn controlled selection. So, that’s how
we happened to have the book Controlled Selection Continued. As
I remember it, I think we were already well into the book before I
had to retire.
[Scheuren] You had to retire because of age? What was the age
you had to retire?
[Hess] Yes, several. The last one of these was published in
September 2007, I think.
[Hess] Yes, I had to retire at 70. That was in 1981.
Anyway, Goodman was very interested in controlled selection and
[Hess, changing the subject] As you know, the center has done a lot
the material we set up and worked on in the book. The last time
of work on telephone surveys. But, I never got very deeply into the
I saw Goodman was one afternoon before Easter. Goodman’s wife
telephone field. All of these things I worked on were face-to-face
was already in Kansas and he was going to go take the train and
area probability surveys. I believed wholeheartedly in this approach.
join her. Anyway, he put in his final edits to the book. We didn’t
And, hence, I never got involved in the telephone business.
know they were final edits, of course, at the time. Well, he went
How it started at the center was Charlie Cannell and Bob Kahn
home to Kansas. He had a heart attack and died that night. That
got a project to work on telephone sampling. One day, I don’t
made me determined to finish the book.
know if it was Cannell or Kahn, asked me if there was somebody in
When my time came to retire, I probably still had something
the sampling section who could work with them on this telephone
to do there. I don’t know if it was all done—probably not. I don’t
project they had and I told them Bob Groves. And, I also told Bob
remember how long it took me to get these first two books finished
Groves that Cannell and Kahn would be talking to him. And they
after I retired.
did, and they worked on various projects, and Groves has been
with telephone surveys ever since. I was no admirer or interested in
[Scheuren] But there were more books after that weren’t there?
the telephone. Anyway, I was getting to the point where I had to
SEPTEMBER 2008 AMSTAT NEWS 9
SEPTEMBER AMSTAT FINAL.indd 9 8/20/08 2:26:54 PM
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