Eleanor Singer (March 4, 1930 – June 3, 2017) was an Austrian-born American expert on

survey methodology Survey methodology is "the study of survey methods". As a field of applied statistics concentrating on human-research surveys, survey methodology studies the sampling of individual units from a population and associated techniques of survey d ...

. She edited ''

Public Opinion Quarterly ''Public Opinion Quarterly'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by Oxford University Press for the American Association for Public Opinion Research, covering communication studies, political science, current public opinion, and survey ...

'' from 1975 to 1986, and with several co-authors wrote the textbook ''Survey Methodology''. From 1987 to 1989 she was president of the

American Association for Public Opinion Research The American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) is a professional organization of more than 2,000 public opinion and survey research professionals in the United States and from around the world, with members from academia, media, gover ...

Education and career

Singer was born in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

. In 1938, a relative in New York helped her family escape the Nazis by moving to the US, and she grew up in

Astoria, Queens Astoria is a neighborhood in the western portion of the New York City Boroughs of New York City, borough of Queens. Astoria is bounded by the East River and is adjacent to four other Queens neighborhoods: Long Island City, Queens, Long Island C ...

. She did her undergraduate studies at

Queens College, City University of New York Queens College (QC) is a public college in the New York City borough of Queens. Part of the City University of New York system, Queens College occupies an campus primarily located in Flushing. Queens College was established in 1937 and offe ...

, completing a bachelor's degree in English in 1951 as the top student in her class. It was at this time that she met her husband, Alan Singer. Singer became an editor of books, for various publishers, and started focusing in books on social science. She entered graduate study at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

in 1959, studying

sociology Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...

there, and completed her Ph.D. in 1966, with a dissertation on ''Birth Order, Educational Aspirations, and Educational Attainment'' supervised by Herbert H. Hyman. For approximately the next 30 years, Singer continued to work at Columbia as a researcher. She joined the Survey Research Center at the

University of Michigan Institute for Social Research The Institute for Social Research (ISR) is the largest academic social research and survey organization in the world, established in 1949. ISR includes more than 300 scientists from a variety of academic disciplines – including political scien ...

in 1994. She retired in 2006, but remained active as a researcher until close to her death.

Contributions

Some of Singer's early research surveyed patient satisfaction with drug treatments. When the

National Research Act The National Research Act is an American law enacted by the 93rd United States Congress and signed into law by President Richard Nixon on July 12, 1974. The law was passed following a series of congressional hearings on human-subjects research, d ...

of 1974 created strict new requirements for human subjects research, Singer conducted a survey of experimental subjects' experiences that made her "the preeminent survey expert on confidentiality and informed consent". In the 1980s, her research concerned the ways that the media reported on social science research and on risk. After she moved to Michigan, she shifted focus again, primarily concentrating on survey methodology.

Awards and honors

In 1996, Singer won the lifetime achievement award of the American Association for Public Opinion Research. She was elected as a

Fellow of the American Statistical Association Like many other academic professional societies, the American Statistical Association (ASA) uses the title of Fellow of the American Statistical Association as its highest honorary grade of membership. The designation of ASA Fellow has been a sign ...

in 2008, and in 2016 she won the Monroe G. Sirken Award in Interdisciplinary Survey Methods Research for "significant contributions in our understanding of survey participation, sources of nonresponse bias, and factors affecting survey responses; for pioneering research on the use and effects of incentives; and for leadership in developing awareness and understanding of ethical issues in survey research."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Singer, Eleanor 1930 births 2017 deaths People from Vienna American sociologists American statisticians American women sociologists American women statisticians Fellows of the American Statistical Association Austrian sociologists Austrian women sociologists Austrian statisticians Queens College, City University of New York alumni 20th-century Austrian mathematicians 20th-century American mathematicians 21st-century American mathematicians 20th-century American women scientists 21st-century American women scientists 20th-century American women mathematicians 21st-century American women mathematicians