Soubhik Barari

College Rankings Are Everywhere, but What Do They Really Tell You? | NORC at the University of Chicago Today’s college rankings are diverse and influential, but they don’t always measure what they claim or what’s most important to students.

College rankings wield enormous influence, but do they actually measure quality? NORC research methodologist @soubhikbarari.bsky.social reveals critical flaws and solutions for improvement to the college ranking system in his latest Expert View.

Find out more: go.norc.org/46GIx8l

Another fun fact: Reality TV consumption significantly predicts beliefs in upward mobility and meritocracy (but not as much as having immigrant parents does).

Fun fact: Consumption of reality TV is significantly predicted by perceived economic insecurity.

Reality TV is civic education (book review) Eunji Kim shows how reality TV reinforces meritocracy and shapes American politics.

Reality TV is civic education.

My review of @eunjikim.bsky.social's excellent new book “The American Mirage: How Reality TV Upholds the Myth of Meritocracy" up now.

open.substack.com/pub/somewhat...

6 facts about the New York mayoral election Including how Brad Lander, not Zohran Mamdani, won the media race.

These and more in my latest Substack piece (complete with an Andor-themed poster of the top candidates for your viewing delight):

open.substack.com/pub/somewhat...

More fun facts: while it is true that Mamdani both has more individual donors and total funds than Cuomo factoring in matching funds, Cuomo has by and large raised more actual dollars across a broad range of industries.

Cuomo has also outspent Mamdani in ad-spend 3-to-1 (matters in local races!).

Another fun fact that you might have already discerned: Zohran, at least according to campaign donations, is unequivocally the tech bro candidate.

Fun facts: though everyone knows Zohran is the media darling of the NYC mayor race, Lander's arrest last week skyrocketed his mentions in the national media, more than any other candidate on any day this year.

(Also Cuomo has clearly been the more consistently salient candidate in print/broadcast.)

How the public feels about AI And how I used AI (as carefully as possible) to find out

somewhatunlikely.substack.com/p/how-the-pu...

How the public feels about AI.

My latest on Substack: a short but sweet round-up of some public opinion studies over the past ~7 years on AI. Some surprising patterns, some not so surprising, and a lot we don't know. Link below 👇

This week @aapor.bsky.social, I'm excited for my @norc.org methodology colleagues to present (and debut!) some exciting work at the intersection of #ai and #surveys.

A quick round-up 🧵 ⤵️

80th Annual AAPOR Conference | NORC at the University of Chicago The American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) holds its 80th Annual Conference on May 14-16, 2025, in St. Louis, Missouri.

Of course, there is a ton more @norc.org work being presented including from @sdc.norc.org and @apnorc.bsky.social.

Check out the full NORC roster ⬇️. We'll see you there!
www.norc.org/events/2025-...

From @joshua-lerner.bsky.social, 𝗟𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗛𝘂𝗮𝗻𝗴, and 𝗘𝗿𝗶𝗻 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗱𝘆𝗰𝗲: using Machine Learning to successfully detect answers to open-ended questions that were generated by AI.

Session:
aapor.confex.com/aapor/2025/m...

From 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗵 𝗖, 𝗟𝗶𝘇 𝗗, 𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗼𝗻 𝗦, 𝗡𝗮𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗲 𝗪, 𝗭𝗼𝗲 𝗦 and myself: evaluating whether and how AI-assisted conversational interviewing can engage respondents and improve response quality.

Session:
aapor.confex.com/aapor/2025/m...

From @joshua-lerner.bsky.social, 𝗧𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗬𝗮𝗻, 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗵 𝗖𝗵𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗻 and myself: developing industry standards and best practices for integrating generative AI into survey-based research designs.

Session:
aapor.confex.com/aapor/2025/m...

From 𝗜𝗽𝗲𝗸 𝗕𝗶𝗹𝗴𝗲𝗻: leveraging machine learning to predict survey completion times more accurately, helping to eliminate the guesswork from estimating survey length.

Session: aapor.confex.com/aapor/2025/m...

This week @aapor.bsky.social, I'm excited for my @norc.org methodology colleagues to present (and debut!) some exciting work at the intersection of #ai and #surveys.

A quick round-up 🧵 ⤵️

Another survey methods talk at 𝗡𝗬𝗔𝗔𝗣𝗢𝗥 coming up next week to put on your calendar:

Wed April 23 - 𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗔𝗜 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗦𝘂𝗿𝘃𝗲𝘆 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 (led by @yamilrvelez.bsky.social , @joshua-lerner.bsky.social , and myself)

RSVP below 👇

RSVP:
tinyurl.com/nyaapor-ai-25

Another survey methods talk at 𝗡𝗬𝗔𝗔𝗣𝗢𝗥 coming up next week to put on your calendar:

Wed April 23 - 𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗔𝗜 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗦𝘂𝗿𝘃𝗲𝘆 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 (led by @yamilrvelez.bsky.social , @joshua-lerner.bsky.social , and myself)

RSVP below 👇

How can we redesign college ranking systems to better serve students and advisors in their college search?

Check out this upcoming webinar for insights from NORC's @susanpaddock.bsky.social and @soubhikbarari.bsky.social.

Learn more and register: go.norc.org/41S7sn5

New in 𝗧𝗼𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗼 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗹 w/my @sdc.norc.org colleagues @kostygina.bsky.social, Chandler Carter, @andarist.bsky.social, and @sherryemery.bsky.social: on political appeals in nicotine pouch ads.

(Which, as "Torches of Freedom", reminds us, is not new).

PDF version:
soubhikbarari.com/writings/tuc...

PRIISM | AI-Assisted Conversational Interviewing: Effects on Data Quality and User Experience Can AI-powered textbots improve survey interviews? Join PRIISM and Soubhik Barari to examine how they can enhance response quality and scalability, while considering challenges in bias and respondent ...

Can AI-powered textbots improve survey interviews? Join PRIISM and @soubhikbarari.bsky.social to examine how they can enhance response quality and scalability, while considering challenges in bias and respondent experience.

If you're in NYC, join us in person!

steinhardt.nyu.edu/events/ai-as...

When gauging public reactions to the latest controversy, it's important not to conduct or share misleading polls. Our new paper in Public Opinion Quarterly is a template for how to (and how not to) poll about the effect of political developments.

Gift link: academic.oup.com/poq/advance-...

Promotional image for a WAPOR webinar titled 'Using NLP and Generative AI in Survey Research'. Features headshots of two speakers, Soubhik Barari from University of Chicago and Joshua Lerner from University of Chicago, with event details including the date as Wednesday, February 26, from 13:00 to 14:30 UTC, and noting online attendance.

🚨 Upcoming Webinar Alert 🚨 Check out this webinar from NORC's @soubhikbarari.bsky.social and @joshua-lerner.bsky.social on using NLP and generative AI in survey research! RSVP for the webinar on February 26! wapor.org/resources/wa...

Some folks asked me how to build a data science career as a social scientist. I published an article on this with other computational social scientists last year: cambridge.org/core/journal...

Coverage of some results from a population segmentation study we conducted ahead of the election that revealed pervasive cynicism across almost all groups of Americans. Always a joy to collaborate with @trosenstiel.bsky.social, @soubhikbarari.bsky.social, and colleagues.

Comparison graphic between a Standardized Interview and a Conversational AI Interview, both addressing the question 'What do you think is the most important problem facing this country today?' The Standardized Interview features a single-word answer 'inflation.' The Conversational AI Interview includes a follow-up interaction where the AI acknowledges the response and asks if inflation is considered the most important issue, with additional commentary on the impact of inflation on people's everyday lives and quality of life.

Can AI-powered survey interviews boost response quality? Our study shows conversational LLMs elicit richer, more detailed responses vs standard formats.

Read the full brief from NORC staff on enhancing survey methodology with GenAI: go.norc.org/3V2G81D

Table showing least favorite Thanksgiving foods among US adults who celebrate. Topping the list are cranberries/cranberry sauce (18%), turkey (12%) and stuffing/dressing (8%)

this AP-NORC poll on Thanksgiving foods is from last year, but I simply cannot stress enough how much I continue to enjoy the phrase "Casserole unspecified/other"
apnorc.org/projects/tur... via apnews.com/article/ap-p...

Thanks @mirya.bsky.social! See descriptives on when / where nationally salient partisan language appears in local politics (“climate change,” “gun control,” etc.). Identifiably partisan language is (1) common, (2) especially in larger cities, and (3) local D / R “slant” correlates with pres. vote.