Single Course-Instructor Report

Student Survey Responses - Unofficial Report

Term: Fall 2006
Survey: Fall 2006
Subject: INTA 6003 S - Empirical Research Meth
CRN: 81640
Class Size: 21
Instructor: Dion, Michelle Lynn

report run @09/21/2007 05:28 PM

1. Course Seemed Well Planned And Organized
It Would Have Been Nice To Get To Regression Sooner, Even If Some Of The Early ''Theoretical'' Stuff Has To Be Cut.
The Curriculum For This Course Could Have Been More Focused. Class Discussions Did Not Necessarily Cover The Concepts In The Assigned Reading. At Times I Did Not Feel That This Course Was Resp
The Only Thing Is That We Got Off The Syllabus And Stayed Off The Whole Semester But I Think The Deadlines For Assignments Stayed The Same.
The Structure Of The Course Was Very Well Planned And Outlined In The Syllabus. The Slides, However, Seemed Somewhat Disorganized.
We Didn''T Always Follow The Syllabus And Some Notes That Were Handed Out By The Instructor Were Not Included In The Current Assignment.

2. Good Job Covering Course Objectives/Content
A Little Too Quickly, Though, At The End Of The Semester. Maybe Eliminating Some Corse Objectives At The End Would Result In A Better Understanding Of The Concepts And Give A Better Foundation.
Slides, Homework Assignments And Project Was Broken Up Nicely With Apt Instructions Instructions Were Both Laid Out In Written Form And Explained Thoroughly During Class.
Spent Too Much Time Talking About Lit Review (Probably When We Got Off Syllabus) Then Talking About Complex Things Like Heteroscedasity Was Blipped Through At The End. See Comments Below

3. Explained Complex Material Clearly
Complex Material Is Always Difficult To Explain And Teaching Math To Social Scientists Can Be Difficult. However, Sometimes More Math Would Have Been Nice For The Non Social Scientists.
Everything Was Clear In Class And In Meetings, But Failed To Stick. Probably Just Me, Though.
The Material Really Sucks - It''S Hard To Explain It Well.
This Was A Very Difficult Class, But I Feel Now That I Have A Firm Grasp Of Empirical Methods. I Have Also Developed An Interest In Taking More Classes.
Very Good Teacher, Not Only In Her Own Knowledge, But In Reflecting It On To Us, Most Of Whom Were Statistics Beginners.
While In Class It Seemed Clear, But Once On My Own I Had Difficulty Following The Processes.
Yes But She Entertained Individual Student Questions Too Much, Then Told The Rest Of Us Not To Worry And That We Would Talk About It At The End And I''M Not Sure We Really Did.

4. Was Approachable And Willing To Assist
However, I Was Not Always Able To Meet With The Professor During Office Hours Because She Was Spending Alot Of Time With Other Students
I Always Felt Comfortable Approaching Dr. Dion With Questions.
Very Good Rapport With Students.

5. Encouraged Students To Consult With Him/Her
Meetings Helped In Retracing Homework Ideas And Project Tasks.

6. Class Attendance Important In Promoting Learning Of Material
I Felt That Even If I Missed One Class I Would Have Been Severly Behind.
Sometimes Gained More Confusion Than Understanding From Classes.
There Was Way Too Much Work In This Course. I Have Never Made This Statement In An Evaluation Before.

7. Number Of Course Assignments Was Appropriate.
A Few Less Homeworks Would Have Eased The Pain.
It Was A Little On The Hefty Side, But I Suppose It Is Graduate School.
Sometimes It Was Difficult If We Had Homework And A Portion Of Our Paper Due At The Same Time.
There Was Way Too Much Work In This Course. I Have Never Made This Statement About A Course Before.
While I Would Have Rather Not Have Something Due Almost Every Week, I Think It Was Necessary In Order For Us To Consistently Build Upon What We Had Learned.

8. Exams Covered Course Content/Objectives
But There Was Probably Some Overcoverage
Pop Quizzes On Reading Only Encouraged Us To Skim Through And Write Down Words In Bold In The Reading.
Sometimes Covered The Details Of The Readings Rather Than The Concepts That Were Necessary For The Class.
The Only 100 I Got Was When I Did No Preparation And My Worst Grade Came After Spending Hours On The Readings. I Gave Up Preparing For Quizes And Spent Time Preparing For Other Assignments.
There May Not Need To Have Been A Quiz Every Week, But It Did Help Me Learn The Material Better.

9. Exams And Quizzes Were Of Appropriate Difficulty.
The Professor Adapted To Us And I Always Felt Challenged By The Quizes But Not Like They Were Too Difficult
The Quizzes Obviously Tested Whether Or Not We Read - That Is Fair. The Questions Were Sometimes Difficult To Answer Even When I Had Read Because We Had Not Had Lecture.

10. The Instructor Was An Effective Teacher
The Instructor Presents The Complex Material Well, But The Course Needs To Be Taught With A Lab Component.
Took A Statistics Class Over The Summer To Prepare For Grad School. The Instructor Was Quiet And Boring And I Wanted To Shoot Myself. Dr. Dion Is Much More Interesting. However, See Below.

Student Comments about the Class or Instructor

I think that trying to learn statistical methods and quantitative writing methods simultaneously was too much. Perhaps straight stats learning, with a section covering the ins and outs of writing this type of paper, then a final project of a complete data analysis and description would be more manageable for the slightly less able among us.

I have no problem with Dr. Dion''s teaching manner.

Dr. Dion is a phenomenal teacher. Her knowledge on the subject as well as IR subjects clearly shines through in her teaching style. I can imagine teaching this course could be somewhat boring as the course and its content isn''t necessarily ''new'' and doesn''t deal with current events like most other INTA courses. But Dr. Dion did an excellent job of keeping the course interesting and she showed a lot of enthusiasm while teaching it. Her project was a great exercise and I learned a lot from it.

I felt that some of the students were allowed to monopolize the time of the class early on and it was obvious that they hadn''t done the reading to someone like me who read very carefully for this class. Soon, there was no incentive to read because everyone just depended on the instructor to explain things because she would do so. It was very frustrating. Or students would ask questions that no one else understood. She would answer one question for one student and the rest of the class would zone out. She asked us to nod our heads to say that we were with her but much of the time we were not. The class was able to get the professor off track with discussions about non course related material and it was very frustrating. However, I can sort of understand because this was a three hour class and there was too much reading and work assigned. Only work very pertinent to course objectives should be assigned. Find a way to reward students who have read and move on. The material at the end is so difficult it should not be blipped through.

The reliance on Powerpoint for complex material hurt the class. This was especially true if the slides were out of the book. If we didn''t understand it reading the book we aren''t going to understand it when it''s projected in front of us. More marker-board lecturing, especially for the math stuff, would''ve been good. Also, 3 hours of anything, especially powerpoint, (even with a break) is too much. It''d be great if there was a way to get going on the project a little sooner by cutting out some qualitative stuff at the begining. The project was a good exercise. As much as it would''ve been no fun to have the topic assigned, it might make the class better if we could choose from a handful of topics where we''re given a bibiliography and data and go through each step of the project. This way we''d have more time to focus on refining our methods, writing, and argument construction and not spent time collecting data and finding the literature -- these are important skills but spending time putting togeather data and sifting through journals (a skill we''d stand a chance of learning how to do on our own) was time we could''ve spent on learning improved analysis skills (which we''d probably never be able to do on our own). Overall an educational course that I learnt something in.

I really learned a lot from doing the project -- please never get rid of it! But please teach the course with a lab component. It is difficult to retain the complex material and learn the SPSS software without hands-on learning. For the most part, you seem to enjoy teaching and bring a positive attitude to the classroom. That being said, I enjoyed your class and would definitely take another one of your courses in the future.

Dr. Dion was an effective teacher and I learned a lot in her class. She was always willing to help me, nomatter what time of day or night it was. This was greatly appreciated. My only suggestion for the course would be to focus more on in-class work with SPSS. Given the resources, computer-wise, available in the classroom, this would benefit the students greatly.

I think knowing the assumptions of linear regression would have been helpful to know at the beginning of the class. Would have preferred a more math based textbook and more math to explain things. The slides could use some revamping :o)

Overall, the class was good and I learned a lot. I do think it should be longer (as in two semesters) to get a better understanding of statistics and the applications we use as social scientists. I think that we had to fly through the material which was somewhat frustrating. I would also recommend breaking the class into two sessions a week (90 minutes each) as opposed to three hours one night a week. After 90 minutes, it is hard to focus on this material. I think students would gain more by having two short classes instead of one long one. I also think that more computer time in class would help a lot.

Instructor put alot of effort into the class. However, It could have been much more effective. A lab must be implemented. Instructor should learn and teach the program, SPSS instead of showing math problems on an overhead. The instructor has the potential and intelligence to be a very dynamic instructor, I get the impression she is just starting out in academia. The instructor is able to establish a rapport with her students that is conducive to learning. The instructor is a subject matter expert.

I wish there was more opportunity for computer lab work with the professor. it can be very hard to sit in class for three hours, learn about spss software, and then apply what we have learned on our on later.

Although this class was challenging due to the complex nature of the material, I think the instructor did a good job of breaking it down and helping students develop an understanding of fundamental research methods. The instructor acknowledged that the course content was difficult, but made it clear that if you worked hard and consulted with her throughout the process, that course would be a positive learning experience. The instructor was very approachable and always willing and eager to meet with students, and she demonstrated understanding and concern for each of her students while making her expectations clear and demanding solid effort.

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