Class isn't bad. Literally just pay attention in class (even though his voice really drags on sometimes making you want to sleep) and you will be fine.

I paid attention in class and took pretty detailed notes (if I missed a section in class, he posts the lecture on ccle later so I was able to go back) making the class relatively easy. I only studied for less than a day for the midterm exam and received a 100%. But focus on the studies he presents in class. Understanding those studies makes it easier to connect the material together.

Final exam is not cumulative so that's cool.

The worst part of this class is the group projects. They say that group projects are important for building teamwork skills. I call BS because no matter how many times I tried to get my group members to help me, all they did was cause me stress and I ended up having to do the bulk of both projects (Yes there's 2!!) myself. So just hope you get into a good group because mine made me get gray hairs. The group project was graded a little harder, but that might have just been my group because like I said I had to do most of the project myself with no help and the project is pretty damn long and stressful.

The homework is relatively easy. As long as you paid attention in class and read the article you need for the assignment, you should get an A on it.

Main point: Pay attention in class and go to office hours if you need extra help. You don't need the textbook that Rossi requires, but it does clarify a lot of the concepts if you ever need help because they give detailed examples.

This was overall a good class. If you put in effort into the work, an A is very possible.
Be CAUTIOUS of group chats, Professor Rossi does not allow collaboration with classmates on Homework assignments and will give you a 0 on the assignment if he finds out!
The grades for this class were distributed equally. There are 4 homework assignments and each are worth 5% (totaling to 20% of your overall grade). There are two group projects, you form a group with the peers in your discussion section, each group project is worth 20% of your grade. And there is a midterm and final in-person exam, which consisted of multiple-choice questions only, each exam was worth 20% of your grade as well (so the final is not cumulative!).
Professor Rossi is a kind person, and is definitely helpful when you ask him questions. I think he is a great professor to take this course with. Although it says on his syllabus you need a required textbook, you really don't. Exams are not based on that, but it can be helpful to supplement ideas from lectures. TA's are also really kind and are a great resource for homework check-in's and project questions, so make sure to visit their office hours or just ask questions!

Overall, I enjoyed this class. The best way to deal with this class is starting the homework and projects as early as possible. There are 2 main group projects - one survey project and one observation project. My TA did a good job explaining what was expected of us for both. You can either request other people in your section to be in a group with or get placed in a group by the TA. I got placed by my TA and ended up liking my group. We tried to get data collection for both projects out of the way extremely early so we could spend a good amount of time on the reports, which are quite lengthy. (8-9 pages I think?) This was a good strategy, I never felt overwhelmed by the workload of this class because of this. As long as you carefully follow the instructions for each part of the report, you should have no problem getting an A on these.

There are also 4 homework assignments. It seemed a lot of leeway was given to the TAs on grading these. 2 of ours were graded by one TA, and the other 2 by the other TA. On 2 I got full points and the other 2 I was getting several points off. I don't know if the TAs will continue to divvy up grading in this way, but if you have a problem, I know one of my group members got some points back after bringing it up to Professor Rossi. That being said, these assignments aren't particularly difficult to complete. The articles given aren't very hard to understand as long as you read them in full. There's about 4 fairly straight forward questions for each assignment and the assignments ended up being 1 - 1 and a half pages double spaced. Not bad at all.

If you took AP Stats in high school, while not necessary, it can be very helpful and give you a leg up. In this course, we discussed types of sampling, p-values, central tendency, scatterplots, just the more simple stuff like that. But if you took AP Stats in HS, it'll be super easy for you to identify types of sampling in studies (like being able to say "this study used stratified SRS"). I would imagine regular stats would help just as well.

The exams are super straight forward. I got high A's and finished really quickly on both with not a crazy amount of studying. It's all MC and is mostly memorization of key concepts/terms and the main points from each study.

Lecture could be fairly slow paced but overall was helpful to attend. He doesn't upload slides, but you could get away with taking pics of the slides you needed. He uploads podcasts which I used mostly to fill in gaps in my notes on studies. For the studies discussed in lecture, I wrongly assumed initially that they were just examples to clarify concepts but you WILL be tested on them. You'll need to know the main points about what kind of study it was (design, methods, sampling, etc) and the main findings. The studies he talks about more at length + the studies from the hw are the most prominent on the tests.
Professor Rossi's slides are very clear and concise. You can't take notes with tech in this class, but he goes at an easy pace for notetaking by hand. While his slides were concise, if you asked him a question, his answers could be a little convoluted/may not exactly answer your question. I would suggest using the (optional) textbook to clarify or asking your TA. The textbook is optional and goes into way more depth than lectures, so get it if you think you need the supplement. It's a fairly cheap rental on Amazon so doesn't hurt lol
Overall, this class was pretty painless for me, so I would recommend!

Ugh. I took this class at my community college and got a 99%, but UCLA made me take it again. I got an 89.98%. I was PISSED. The lectures drag on- I had to watch them later on 1.5 - 2x speed. The examples given in class are so convoluted and stretched onnnnnnn that it makes you lose interest. The exams are randomized- people get different exams. I studied about 60 hours for the midterm and got an 85%. I studied a good 80+ hours for the final, knew every question and somehow got an 80%. I was so upset. I asked my TA and the professor for help or to regrade as I said EVERY point of each answer and they refused. I received an 89.98%. Like... seriously???? Apparently I got hard exams because a girl in my class who NEVER watched lectures, never came to the group work meetings and never read the book said she got a 96%. That's nice... That's great. Yes, I'm bitter. It's annoying to work so hard and get an 89.98%. I literally still panic when I think of what my GPA will be when I graduate because I want to go on to grad school. The outcome of this class gave me so much anxiety. You know when people say that some professors at universities are bad at teaching and only teach so they can do research? If you have another choice of professor, don't take him.

This class was the best class I took at UCLA during online schooling. Not only was Professor Rossi so helpful and understanding of his students, but my TA Shujin was equally helpful. I strongly suggest being mindful of the group you are in because that makes all the difference in your grade (2 projects that are majority of your grade). Further, I suggest meeting with your TA throughout the process of doing your project because they're the ones grading it and they mention a lot of areas that may need improvement before the deadline! But again, really good class! Also discussions normally covered some ideas people needed further clarification on and being in breakout rooms with your group working on your project!

TAKE PROFESSOR ROSSI'S CLASS! Grades are based on Homework (4 at 5% each = 20%), Group Projects ( 2 at 20% = 40%), OPEN BOOK-TIMED Midterm (20%), and OPEN BOOK-TIMED Final Exam (20%). He doesn't need the whole "Respondus lockdown browser and monitor" nonsense because he is testing you to see if you can apply what you learned in class. His tests are NOT multiple choice. You have to write 5 short answers (applying examples from lectures and readings) in 1 hour and 15 minutes, so you're basically given 15 minutes per question. This means that you really have to study his lectures and understand the material. If you care about your grades, GO TO OFFICE HOURS! Professor Rossi is very kind and helpful. He wants you to do well in class. As long as you put in your time and effort, you'll get the grade you want. TAs Kristella and Shujin are awesome as well.

Professor Rossi was a cool guy. His class was my first at UCLA and I was nervous going into it but he was laid back and straight to the point about what is expected in his class which made me feel better. He is more than willing to answer any questions you have to clarify the material and he even stuck around after class for conversations with students. The homework was not too bad, just reading 4 articles throughout the quarter and answering a few questions about them. There were two group projects which keep you busy throughout the quarter but if you're lucky to get reliable group members it won't seem too bad. The midterm and final were not bad but you really have to make sure you understand the details of the studies he goes over in class and the ones you read for homework. I had a great TA named Johanna and she really helped simplify some concepts and learn the material.

attendance at lectures & discussion not taken. slides & bruincast audio available on bruinlearn (for lectures). the material itself isn't hard & the exams are mostly memorizing definitions (with a few details of studies thrown in). but, the group projects are really time consuming & make up a lot of your grade.

Professor Rossi makes this class very fun and engaging! He is easy to approach and breaks topics down nicely. The lectures were not recorded but he did provide audio recordings along with the slides each week, making it feasible to catch up if you miss a class. He provides a lot of guidance on both projects, of which there are two, and exams (midterm/final). I recommend this class and professor very much!
Note: I also recommend to take this class along with the honors seminar he teaches (SOCIOL89) as it is an interesting seminar which often draws on concepts spoken about in the Sociology 20 lectures.

This class was my first UC class after transferring from my community class and although at first it scared me when I, and most of the class, got terrible grades on the first two homework's, this class is definitely doable for an A! I learned that going to as many TA office hours with questions was SUPER useful, especially to get some homework answers checked. Even though one TA was a little more lenient than the other to give clues on if I was giving the right answers, they, as well as Rossi both REALLY helped clarify the topics in office hours. Also, group projects, yes, are always a pain in the ass, but as long as you start in advance--or do most of it yourself if you're a type A like me just to have that buffer if your teammates aren't as proactive as you--you'll be okay....hopefully. I repeat, again, yes group projects are never easy. However, this class as a whole, like I said, is doable for an A, you just have to take every chance you reasonably can to get your questions answered about material before the due dates! :)