Analysis of Categorical Data from Historical Perspectives Essays in Honour of Shizuhiko Nishisato

This book marks a celebration of the career and influence of our dear colleague and friend, Prof Shizuhiko Nishisato, or “Nishi” as we call him, in honour of his 88th birthday. Such a milestone deserves a moment to sit back and reflect upon a life filled with happiness, hope, at times sadness, but with love and passion for all that drives us forward. So it is with this Festschrift that we all celebrate Nishi’s career and the influence (both personal and professional) he has had on us all. It is also our opportunity to thank him for all he has done for us as editors, and for everyone who was able to contribute to his Festschrift and those who were unable to do so. Our connection to Nishi dates back about 20 years and so it is relatively young, certainly in comparison with many of those who have contributed to this book. A key moment was the first face-to-face meeting of the Nishi/Clavel and Beh/Lombardo teams at the IFCS (International Federation of Classification Societies) Conference in Tokyo in 2017. From this meeting came the 2021 Springer book that we had the pleasure to co-author with Nishi titled Modern Quantification Theory: Joint Graphical Display, Biplots and Alternatives. So, it came as a pleasant surprise in late February 2022 that we were invited to edit his Festschrift. Of course, we said “yes”. We would like to acknowledge the early involvement of Prof. Yasumasa Baba who is a long-term dear friend of Nishi and who was originally committed to this project but, unfortunately, was unable to continue in the role. Nishi’s career spans a great many achievements that are laid out in many of the papers of this book, and so we leave it to you to peruse the pages and appreciate the depth of work he has committed a lifetime of passion to. It is safe to say his impact on quantification theory, and the vast array of research avenues this covers, is profound. Therefore, this Festschrift is a celebration of many of these avenues and is divided into four broad topics. The first, “Data Theory” provides a mix of written and pictorial accounts of Nishi’s life and his work. It also gives some perspective of Nishi’s influence in the context of the career of Prof. Chikio Hayashi, an early and highly influential pioneer of quantification theory. The next major part of this book is titled “On Associations and Scaling Issues” and includes papers that celebrate Nishi’s impact on the numerical issues concerned with dual scaling and its related methods, as well as providing new insights into this area of research. A more visual ix x Preface appreciation of the scaling issues is explored in “On Correspondence Analysis and Related Methods”. Here, the papers discuss a range of issues including the naming conventions used in the past, exploring the anatomy of correspondence analysis and detailing extensions of correspondence analysis for analysing various data structures. The final part of Nishi’s Festschrift is titled “General Topics” and includes papers that are not necessarily related to issues concerned with quantification theory but are here because of the close professional and personal connections that Nishi has shared with the authors over the years. This celebration of Nishi’s career is a collection of 29 papers where all the corresponding authors and some of their co-writers were all personally invited to contribute. We must also acknowledge those who were invited to contribute to this collection and prepared an early version of their work for inclusion but, ultimately, were unable to do so. Every one of those who have been invited to contribute to this collection all share a personal and professional bond with Nishi. These papers are written by 45 authors that come from all corners of the globe; in alphabetical order, Australia, Barbados, Canada, England, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Scotland, Spain, Switzerland, and the USA. The preparation of Nishi’s Festschrift would not have been possible without the help and support of Springer. So, we thank them, and especially Sridevi Purushothaman, for the many email queries that were patiently responded to. We also extend our heartfelt appreciation to Pieter Kroonenberg, our close personal friend and of Nishi’s, for writing the Foreword to this book. Our biggest thanks goes to each of the authors who have contributed to this collection of celebratory papers. It has been an immense pleasure communicating with each and every one of you and the email conversations that have followed. We thank you for your commitment to this book and for helping to celebrate Nishi as the kind and endearing person that he is and for the role he has played over the decades as a researcher who has committed himself to the development of quantification theory and its related methods. No one succeeds in life without the love of those around them. While we have all provided various degrees of professional and/or personal help and support over many years (and decades), his successes rest primarily with his wife Lorraine. So, on a personal note, we thank Lorraine for her support and love as Nishi has carved a wide long path through his academic career, a path that many of us have travelled alongside Nishi or behind him. Whether you subscribe to the phrase of Scott Fitzgerald behind every great man there is a great woman or Tariq Ramadan’s behind every great man is not a woman, she is beside him, she is with him, not behind him, or even Jim Carrey’s behind every great man is a woman rolling her eye, Lorraine’s influence has been a blessing to us all. So, thank you Lorraine. Finally, we thank Nishi for inviting us to edit his Festschrift and wish him continued health, happiness and love as he and those around him continue to mould and direct the next generation of researchers. Newcastle, Australia Naples, Italy Murcia, Spain June 2023 Eric J. Beh Rosaria Lombardo Jose G.