Pundits like to speculate about how technology is changing our lives.
Using surveys, structured diaries and demographic data, his new Stanford Institute for the Quantitative Study of Society aims to apply rigor to some of the most interesting and complex social questions of the day. A professor of political science, Nie plans one study on how technology is changing society. For example, political scientists know that public opinion gels only after people talk over a news event with colleagues around the coffee machine. A second project will look at how rising levels of education affect social stratification. Nie joined the Stanford faculty in September after 30 years as a professor of political science at the University of Chicago.