Mini-study: Steven Ruggles by Dawn Brimhall

(VIEW) Steven Ruggles: MacArthur Fellows Homepage

drbrimhall — 2024-02-11 23:51:55 UTC

Professor of History and Population Studies at the University of Minnesota.

Resources:

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Davis G. A. (1999). Creativity is forever (4th ed. rev. print). Kendall/Hunt Pub.

Shekerjian, Denise G. (1990). Uncommon genius : how great ideas are born / Denise Shekerjian. New York, N.Y., U.S.A. : Viking

Starko, A.J. (2017). Creativity in the Classroom: Schools of Curious Delight (6th ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315391625

Sternberg, R (2000) Patterns of giftedness: A triarchic analysis, Roeper
Review, 22:4, 231-235, DOI: 10.1080/027831900095540

Steven Ruggles. (2022). Retrieved February 11, 2024, from https://www.macfound.org/fellows/class-of-2022/steven-ruggles

Quotes from Uncommon Genius: How Great Ideas are Born and How Steven Ruggles Epitomizes These Ideas/Quotes

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"Identify your own peculiar talent and then settle down to work with it for a good long time" (Shekerjian, 1990, pg 1).

Steven Ruggles has an absolute passion for demographics and population data. He has studied it extensively for years in a quest to understand family dynamics and changing family patterns over time and space. He found something he was both good at and loves.

"Endurance counts for a lot in cultivating talent to the point of being able to create things with it- endurance and a concentration of effort to a specific sphere of activity" (Shekerjian, 1990, pg 7).

Steven Ruggles has been working on the IPUMs project for over 30 years, practically his entire working career. This one passion has been expanded to help researchers in over 100 countries by collecting, storing, and distributing in a useful and readable manner demographic data, important not just in the field of History but in economics, government, policy, and socio-political issues.

"Find your talent by looking in all the obvious places, at the things you do well and take for granted. After that, settle in for a long engagement within the confines of a specific context. In this way, you talent...has a chance to develop" (Shekerjian, 1990, pg 15).

Steven Ruggles probably didn't realize that not everyone has a passion for demographic data. Once he figured out that he was good at it and loved it, he made it his life work to pave the road for others to also like and understand demographics/population data in the context of whatever it is they do.

"Risk is everything" (Shekerjian, 19990, pg 21).

It was a risky endeavor to set out to create a database, 30 years ago, that could be accessed by all and that could meet the demands of such large data and demands, especially in the 1990s when this project was conceived. There was no way he could have realized the technological revolution that was about to happen in the early 21st century that would significantly ease his progress. He just started and went for it, hoping that technology would catch up.

"Cut short the floundering, and you've cut short the possible creative outcomes" (Shekerjian, 19990, pg 33).

In creating anything, there is no possible way to see the end from the beginning. Steven began by looking at the problem he had. He then expanded that into something people around him were struggling with. Now, he has expanded his efforts globally. There had to be a lot of things to work out during this expansive process.

Why did Dr. Ruggles Create IPUMS?

drbrimhall — 2024-02-12 00:48:53 UTC

The MacArthur Fellows biography on Dr. Ruggles noted, "Steven Ruggles is a historical demographer building the most extensive database of population statistics in the world. The challenges Ruggles encountered in his research on changing family structures led him to create the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) in 1993. At IPUMS, Ruggles leads the collection, harmonization, and dissemination of a wealth of demographic data useful for studies of social change" (MacArthur Foundation, 2024).

Conclusions/Assertions #1:

drbrimhall — 2024-02-12 01:03:51 UTC

Davis (1999), notes that there are 4 Ps to the creative process, namely, person, product, process and press. Dr. Ruggles's work with IPUMs exemplifies these 4 Ps in several key ways, as noted on the MacArthur Fellows biography page (MacArthur Fellows, 2024). Namely, Dr. Ruggles (person with traits such as determination, risk-taker, experience) used his environment (the press) and his work in the field of mapping changing family structures, to determine a problem that needed a creative solution. He then began a (process) by which he identified the need or problem he and other researchers were running into, namely difficuly in accessing usable population/demographic data, and then proceeded to put together a team and resources to store, make usable, and transmit population/demographic data. His (product) was IPUMS. Since his initial venture into creating IPUMS, he has expanded the project to become a worldwide data base.

Conclusions/Assertions #2

drbrimhall — 2024-02-12 01:13:01 UTC

Starko (2018), in citing Dewey's model of creativity, noted that problem-solving boils down to five main components, namely: a difficulty being felt, located/defined, solutions explored, pros and cons are weighed, and a solution is accepted. Steven Ruggles's quest to streamline and make available harmonized data sets of demographic information epitomizes Dewey's model of creativity. In his attempts to map out changing family structures, Steven Ruggles realized that his research required him to not only access significant quantities of census data or time and space but also make comparisons between data sets without any consistent coding schemes or documentation methods (MacArthur Fellows, 2024). He realized that there needed to be a way for him and fellow researchers to access harmonized data sets that would allow them to more easily conduct research not only into changing family dynamics but into other demographically-based projects in a reliable manner that would afford useful analysis and conclusions. After much consideration, he determined that creating a digital database (IPUMS) was the best solution. He then, with the help of others, built the IPUMS database which he has since expanded.

Conclusions/Assertions #3

drbrimhall — 2024-02-12 01:27:46 UTC

Sternberg (2000), on his article about Patterns of Giftedness, noted that a creative person generally possesses three main attributes. These three attributes are analytical, creative and practical (Sternberg, 2000). Steven Ruggles possesses each of these key attributes of creativity, as exemplified in his work with IPUMs. Specifically, Dr. Ruggles was able to analyze his work, the problems he was having in research as well as the challenges other researchers also faced in researching census records. He then was able to creatively find a solution to harmonize and compartmentalize large data sets into something useable not only for himself but for others in the same field. Finally, he was able to implement his creative idea in a practical way that has not only born fruit but has also significantly expanded into a world database to help researchers not only track Dr. Ruggles initial problem but also research other problems of a similar magnitude (MacArthur Fellows, 2024; Sternberg, 2000)

IPUMs 30 Years and Counting

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IPUMS International Expansion

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^{Link to website}. Explore at your leisure.

Following in the Footsteps of IPUMs

drbrimhall — 2024-02-12 01:37:29 UTC

The Quill Project is an ongoing project that seeks to digitize a mass of data into something usable for researchers and educators. I wonder if Dr. Ruggles inspired the creators of Quill? Link to Quill Project.

Watch (Skim) the Origins of IPUMs

drbrimhall — 2024-02-12 01:41:06 UTC

This presentation is 36 minutes long but provides an excellent narrative as to what problems Dr. Ruggles was having with data research and how he thought about fixing the problem. (LINK in case the link doesn't appear: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtGd0Wpd420 )