Having read the few (negative) reviews for this class prior to taking it, I sort of knew what to expect. To put it simply, I genuinely dreaded going to/even thinking about this class. The class was mainly centered around a quarter-long group research project about any social science topic. Luckily, I got a good group and we all worked well together, but if you get a bad group, you’re kind of out of luck because a large part of your grade is the project itself. So choose wisely.

The grade breakdown for the class was as follows:
- Critical Reading Reflection (10%): a brief reflection on one of the readings discussed in class (can be done as a group)
- R Tutorials (15%): a total of 7 tutorials completed in R studio, each consisting of the tutorial itself and the accompanying exercises (can also be done in groups)
- Group Project (40%): consisting of literature review (10%), research design (20%), and pilot (10%).
- Survey Design (15%): a survey instrument designed in Qualtrics about any social science topic, as well as giving feedback to others about their survey
- Attendance and Participation (20%): includes both lecture attendance and also active participation in section

To start, lectures were incredibly pointless. Unfortunately, attendance was required, so skipping them is not an option. You have one excused absence and must attend on Zoom. Any other absences require you to submit a 500-word reflection on a reading for that week, which I thought was ridiculous and honestly way too strict. Some lectures were dedicated towards explaining how to navigate the research project, while others discussed the readings for the week. The only time I did a single reading was for the critical reading reflection. You seriously don’t need them. The lectures were meant to help up with the research project, but both me and those in my group agreed that they were useless. Section was primarily focused on R, which would give us the skills to complete the R tutorial’s. A few lectures throughout the quarter were also focused on additional R lessons and led by the TA, since we would sometimes run out of time in section. I found section to be the only helpful/enjoyable part of the class. Our TA was really nice, explained the concepts very well, and answered all of our questions. As another review says, the TA should’ve taught this class, and I agree wholeheartedly.

To be honest, I thought that the grading was pretty lenient for this class, but it was definitely hard to get a perfect score on assignments. For each assignment, however, we received very thorough feedback from our TA, which I really appreciated. Halfway through the quarter, many students expressed concerns about their grade, so they began offering extra credit opportunities, mainly in the form of extra R/coding work, an in-class presentation explaining your group project, and research design revisions. If you did all of them, you would have racked up 20% of extra credit that would be applied to your final grade. Yep—so two whole letter grades, which I thought was very, very generous. But note that they may not do that every quarter, I’m just saying what happened for our class.

The worst part of the class for me was not even the research project—it was the R tutorials. They genuinely take so long (hours for a single tutorial), and I would get so frustrated working on them (especially the exercises). I would suggest working with a group, but your work can’t be the exact same as you have to show your own thought process/understanding through comments!

In short, my advice for succeeding in this class would be to pick a good group, start the R tutorials ahead of time so you have plenty of time to troubleshoot your code, be at every lecture so you don’t lose points, and actively participate in section. Also do as many extra credit assignments as you can, but again, not sure if they will be offered in future quarters. All in all, it’s not a horrible class, but definitely not the best option. Avoid taking it unless you really need to, or if you have prior background in R/will be taking the class with friends.

This class itself was really different from what I had taken at UCLA prior. The class is a mixed-methods research class, but the lectures really did not add value to the class and the main group project. The lectures were unclear and disorganized, and I would find myself dozing off. In addition to the group projects, we learned R during our discussion times, and when I say that the TA did everything, I am not exaggerating. She was way more aware of what was going on in the class, what needed to be done, and the professor would direct any questions about R to the TA (mind, there was only 1 TA for the entire class). We had R assignments in class, which were supposed to help us complete our R tutorials (a 15% assignment due at the end of the class). Although these weren't impossible, they required some time, and the TA did the best with the short amount of time given.

The group project is in different sections, where you have to do a literature review (10%), research design (20%), and a final research pilot (10%). Randomly, in the middle of the class (not mentioned in the syllabus), they just ended up adding a survey assignment, where we had to create a survey, and this 15% assignment was deducted from our attendance/participation percentage and added as a separate thing. Participation (10%) and attendance (10%) were finalized. Also, we had a critical reading reflection, which is the only reason one has to do a reading in the class, because I will be honest, they did not add value. This was a 10% assignment where you basically summarized a reading.

Thankfully, throughout the quarter, they gave a lot of extra credit opportunities, such as presenting, completing the R assignments given in discussion, and just doing some extra work for the final to receive extra credit, which really helped throughout the class.

The TA was amazing and really did everything they could to support all the students throughout this disorganized class. They were offering a lot of opportunities to understand assignments, answered emails on time, and were friendly/welcoming. (Also, attendance matters; she goes on Zoom, but you can only use it once, and if you miss, like the QR code, you have to write a 500-word reflection about what was covered.)

This class was not well structured in preparing students for the project. But Professor Salma is awesome, and despite not showing she cares much about students, I think she does. She is one of political science's most famous scholars so that's a plus. I would take the class again.

Group Project at the end is the only thing you're graded on. She's really smart and if you wanted to learn, you could learn a LOT from her. Her class is structured in a way where you can get away with not studying anything the entire quarter and still get an A, so long as you pay attention in section and have a prior background in statistical analysis. The class structure is She's very sweet, she's new so the other comment is giving her a hard time. I'd take her class again though :)

This class was such a let down. It seems the professor is new to teaching and it shows. The TA should have been teaching. There was very little guidance for what ended up being quite a big group project. The professor is not one for constructive criticism, so if you want to be lulled into a false sense of security that will backfire whenever you get a grade, take this class.

Just trick a friend into taking this class, ask them to share the readings, and you’ll learn just as much as they do.