Soubhik Barari*




Soubhik Barari

About Me

Hello! I'm a quantitative social scientist and data scientist.

I use data science to answer questions around media, public opinion, elections, and human behavior more broadly. My academic research explores the dynamics and effects of online misinformation, public deliberation in local politics, media coverage in U.S. elections, and political cues from corporations.

Currently, I am a Quantitative Social Scientist at NORC at the University of Chicago. I hold a Ph.D. in Political Science and an A.M. in Statistics from Harvard and a B.S. in Computer Science and Mathematics from Tufts. Previously, I've worked in research and data science roles at SurveyMonkey and Microsoft Research. I am also currently an Adjunct Assistant Professor in Political Science at Columbia University.

I write about politics, data, and social science for a Substack newsletter called Somewhat Unlikely.

I'm currently based in NYC. If you're in the area, let's grab coffee some time.

Recent News

  • Jan 2024 I started as an Adjunct Assistant Professor (part-time) in Political Science at Columbia University.
  • Sep 2023 I launched my Substack newsletter called Somewhat Unlikely.
  • Aug 2023 I published svmkR, an open-source R package for conducting full-stack survey research with SurveyMonkey.
  • Aug 2023 I released a new working paper with collaborators at Yale U, Temple U, and SurveyMonkey on how bad question wording in polls is distorting perceptions of Trump's indictments. See The Atlantic's write-up here.
  • Jul 2023 I joined NORC (National Opinion Research Center) as a data scientist in the Methodology / Quantitative Social Sciences department.


*Pronounced šó bɪ́k  .