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Vincent Barabba

American market researcher

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMay 22, 2026
Entity authorityQ7931662
Source-derived summary

Vincent Barabba (born September 6, 1934) is an American market researcher, author, former head of the United States Census Bureau, and the chairman and co-founder of Market Insight Corporation. He is known for his work in the field of market research and opinion polling.

Biography

Born in Chicago, Illinois, Barabba was awarded a bachelor's degree in marketing in 1962 from California State University, Northridge and, in 1964, an MBA in marketing from the University of California, Los Angeles. He was also awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws in 2012 by California State University, Northridge.

Beginning as political campaign survey researcher in the 1964 California Republican primary between Nelson Rockefeller and Barry Goldwater, Barabba moved on to become a business market researcher (eventually Director of Market Intelligence) for Xerox Corp. and Eastman Kodak. He co-founded and was chairman of Market Insight Corporation. Until 2003, he was General Manager of Corporate Strategy and Knowledge Development at General Motors, where he conceived and devised OnStar and MyProductAdvisor.

He is a Past President of the American Statistical Association, and served twice as head of the US Census Bureau (the only to be appointed by a President of a different political party) and currently serves as a Commissioner of the California Citizens Redistricting Commission. He is chairman of The State of The USA, a nonprofit corporation providing quality information to the American public on societal, economic, and environmental conditions.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Vincent Barabba” as american market researcher. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Vincent, Barabba and American.

Editorial reviewStrongest as a route into the people, institutions and dated events that shaped the subject’s public record. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1934, 1962, 1964, 2012—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1934-09-06. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Vincent, Barabba and American providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Vincent Barabba”, the useful work is to connect “american market researcher” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7931662. VIAF identifies the subject as 62216957. The Library of Congress control number is n79139356. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1934, 1962, 1964 and 2012.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
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Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Vincent Barabba”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Vincent Barabba primary sources, Vincent Barabba archive and Vincent research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Vincent Barabba” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.