Measure by measure, studying society accurately

Naoki Egami is an MIT political scientist who specializes in the methodology of research. He focuses on examining the external validity of studies, ensuring that the results apply to broader settings and situations. Egami views political methodology as a field where one asks political science questions but solves them using the methods of applied statistics and computer science.

His interests span various topics, including the impact of AI tools on research accuracy. Before AI's recent surge, Egami started studying AI's role in studies, addressing its accuracy and how researchers can account for its tendencies. He acknowledges the importance of balancing technical statistical theories with empirical problem-solving; otherwise, researchers may only find ad-hoc solutions.

Egami joined MIT's Department of Political Science as an associate professor in 2025 and is also a faculty affiliate at the Statistics and Data Science Center at the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society (IDSS). Growing up in Tokyo, Egami attended the University of Tokyo, where he excelled in math and physics but had an interest in political philosophy.

He attended a graduate school workshop for MBAs, not realizing it was actually discussing PhD programs and political science. A chance encounter with a PhD student led to Egami being invited to a seminar with only 20 attendees, where he would have spoken with Kosuke Imai, a professor at Harvard University. Imai's talk on using statistics in social sciences inspired Egami to pursue a career in political science, leading him to Princeton University, where he worked with Imai and other researchers to develop methodological research on topics like external validity.