This class was great and it converted me from a bus econ into a sociology major by the end of it. The professor was very simple and to the point. I liked her teaching style. She used slides that basically covered all the material you'll be tested on. She wasn't really good at responding to emails though, so just stick to keeping communication with your TA. I suggest taking this class right after statistics or alongside statistics. There is A LOT of statistics and needing to know how to read and analyze them. It's lot of fun and they teach you how so don't worry. Easy class and super fun. You even get to conduct your own research with some peers. Also, DO EVERY SINGLE HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT. There are only like 6 assignments and you only need to pass 4 of them, so do all of them to make sure you can make up for any you don't pass. Have fun!

Super hard not to fall asleep during her lecture. I left early every class. boring class, workload was fine, but there are two group projects that make up a significant amount of grade but the second project is super easy and only takes a few days to complete. Memorization is key for the midterm and final, which are both pretty short (about 25 questions and two short answers), meaning there isn’t much margin for error so try your best to be aware of every term on your study guide and know how to explain them! The class is recorded on bruinlearn so do with that what you will.

This class had a weird schedule due to covid-- it was online for the first 6 weeks of the quarter and then we went back in-person. A large portion of this class was a group survey project, which went pretty well! We did have to do some spreadsheet data analysis function thing for our project write-up but other than that it was pretty easy! I've never been the best at math and statistics but managed to do it!

i really enjoyed this class, and i would definitely recommend to anyone. the class was honestly pretty easy if you don't slack off, you don't even need to read the text book, but if you do, just make sure you take down the definitions because it'll help you when studying for the tests. she has a midterm and a final, both multiple choice and short answer. she gives out a study guide before each, which is just a complete list of terms you should know for the tests- i would study by making a quizlet of each term and definition and reviewing that. really pay attention to the lectures, and how she structures each section. often times the short answers on the test would ask you about the specific things she covered in lecture, (ex: the parts to a good research question that she went over in lecture, and then provide your own research question). the lectures were bruin cast so i never went to class, but still got an a just by taking notes for lectures when i could. there were two group projects, and if you're stuck with a bad a group, you're likely to have them for the second project so just be mindful of that. they really were not that bad, and the second one was really easy because the write up was about 1/3 the length of the first one. i think this class has some really essential soc concepts & info, and i like how shes always applying examples to her definitions to make things clearer. i would definitely recommend this class or prof to any prospective soc students!

there's about 2 weeks left of this class and overall, i don't really like this class. i don't recommend non-sociology majors to take this unless it's a requirement for your major. i'm a soc major and in my opinion, it is such a useless and boring class. ig it depends on the person, but i find that the terms can be confusing as definitions can be quite similar, so i feel like you definitely have to know your material in order to do well in this class. one thing i really don't like about the class are the homework assignments. they're only 1 point and it's not really based on completion. i've gotten 0s on most of them. you're only required to complete 4/5 of them. but lowkey it doesnt matter if you do them or not. your projects and exams take a significantly larger effect. if you don't do the assignments or just get 0s, it will literally just affect your grade by 1%. it's honestly dumb. there are 2 group projects. those are pretty chill if you have a good group. the midterm was pretty straightforward. i honestly didn't study at all and i got a B on it. as for the professor, she's an engaging lecturer, however, for her slides, she doesn't have much on there (she has pretty dry slides) so i rly recommend going to class in order to understand what you're learning. otherwise you just have to teach yourself which is what i did. i think it's doable but a stupid major requirement if you don't want to go into research. assignments are also due before your lecture time. for me it was 4PM which was such a random time so that's why i would accidentally miss it. professor sweeney is terrible at responding to emails. she takes very long or would never respond.

Honestly, not a bad class! I would have gotten an A but I never asked the prof about assignments I did that showed up as missing from Canvas, which is absolutely my fault. Not super hard, the first group project was a little difficult because of some group members but by the second group project you can change your group if it was really a problem. Do yourself a favor and make the topics for your projects as easy as possible and you'll be fine. Also, readings weren't entirely necessary as long as you have the in-class material mastered.

Professor Sweeney is an awesome professor! Very knowledgeable about her subject, organized and is very easy to follow. If you need to take Soc 20, take it with Sweeney. She is awesome. Definitely go to the lectures and do the readings, you will definitely succeed in this class if you do that. Listens to her students and is very willing to consider student feedback. This class has group projects but during online lectures/discussions, they were easy to do. 5 homework assignments total (although you only need to do 4), but they definitely add something and allow you to exercise your knowledge on the topics learned in class instead of just being busy work. I definitely came out of this class knowing a lot more about sociological research and a better idea of what I want to do with my future degree.

If you are taking Soc 20 as a pre-req PLEASE take it with Professor Sweeney. It's astonishing how amazing of a lecturer she is; she was constantly engaging with the class, made sure to answer all questions asked via audio AND chat, and hosted many office hours to aid students during projects, and in general was extremely knowledgeable about the subject. In addition, if a student had a question she didn't have the answer to, she would always note it, research it, and come back with the answer during the next class. There is a midterm and final exam, but for us they were open note and were extremely easy to get 95%+ on so long as you paid attention in lecture. There are 2 group projects in which you design some sociological research question and use Google forms to implement what you learn in class and then write a paper on your results, which helped me solidify all the concepts taught. Both the TAs and Professor helped fix the questions asked on your Google form and were really there to teach you instead of grade you. Prof Sweeney even shortened our final project so that we could focus on perfecting our first and it really showed how thoughtful she is. Please take this class with her if you can!!

Professor Sweeney's lectures are very worthwhile. The material itself is dry but the application of the research has potential to be interesting. She gives many sociological anecdotes and opportunities for hands-on learning that help make the research a little more real to those who have never done research before.

Would take a class taught by her again!!