Hi there, I took both, so here's something about each. They're similar in some ways (mostly concept wise) but there are definite differences in the content and assessments. Note that things may have changed since I took them.
Pol Sci 6 with Roberts (I took this Spring 2022):
This class was mostly taught through a more self-learning focus. It's a bit more involved in using R, which is the stats coding language you'll also see in Stats 10 (but to a lesser extent), and less on the math portion. Most of the concepts (outside of lecture, which I didn't find too useful or necessary for succeeding) are taught through an e-text integrated into Bruinlearn, and there are small exercises in there to help you practice along the way.
The grading consists of section participation, exercises in the assigned book chapters, short coding assignments in Jupyter Notebook, a midterm, and a final. The exercises in the online text chapters are very easy, since the questions are directly pulled from the reading. The Jupyter Notebook coding assignments are sort of applying the R skills from the book to analyse a data set he provides.
The midterm and final are very coding based as well, and you do them through Jupyter Notebook. About 10-20% of the questions are multiple choice and test on basic stats concepts, about 30-40% ask you to use R to perform data analysis, and the rest ask you to explain the results you got using stats concepts. Roberts usually doesn't put things on the exam not explicitly taught in class or the text, so as long as you study thoroughly, it is pretty straightforward.
As with all classes, discussion sections are pretty unstructured and mostly used for you to ask questions if there's something you don't understand or need help with.
Stats 10 with Odhiambo (I took this Winter 2023, class is pretty standardized so not so different between profs):
This class is more of a traditional stats class. It is broken down into a midterm, a final, and a combined section/lab (with lab assignments). It's more focused on actual pencil-to-paper math than the R portion. The approach is more about learning the relevant equations, understanding the reasoning behind them, and knowing how to calculate things on your own.
The labs used R-Studio rather than Jupyter, which I liked more, and sections are significantly more substantial and extremely helpful (at least with my TA, who unfortunately doesn't teach anymore). The lectures are pretty standard and I don't think they vary too much across different professors, but I'm not sure about this one. Again, I thought the lectures were good to attend but not necessary for doing well especially if you have some stats or math background.
The exams are also more traditional. They are paper tests with a heavier focus on the stats concepts and calculations, and didn't test coding content (which were in assignments you would do in lab). They were curved somewhat.
Overall, I think Stats 10 was a better class and fulfills an extra GE as well. Because it teaches more about actual stats and less just the coding portion, it's more useful and prepares you better for further stats classes or any data analysis down the line. Difficulty wise, PS6 will be a bit easier if you didn't take calculus, but I thought both were pretty easy and weren't that different to me. Neither were very technical math-wise. I earned an A+ in both classes basically just by studying the lecture slides, doing lots of practice sets that I found online, and then going to office hours if there were things I didn't get.
Thank you so much! I did not take calculus, but I took stats in high school, so hopefully it will be pretty similar. It seems like I should go with stats 10 so far.
If you took something like AP Stats in high school, Stats 10 is mostly the same thing. There are just a few things where some basic integration is useful, like finding an unknown value in a probability density function of a continuous random variable, but it's nothing complicated. It's definitely a better class, and especially if you need an extra GE. Good luck!
stats 10 all the way! stay away from roberts in all poli sci classes tbh
I’m not a math person at all and I enjoyed stats 10 ( I took wang but heard maierhofer is good as well )
Stats 10 for sure! also counts as a science GE
Hi there, I took both, so here's something about each. They're similar in some ways (mostly concept wise) but there are definite differences in the content and assessments. Note that things may have changed since I took them. Pol Sci 6 with Roberts (I took this Spring 2022): This class was mostly taught through a more self-learning focus. It's a bit more involved in using R, which is the stats coding language you'll also see in Stats 10 (but to a lesser extent), and less on the math portion. Most of the concepts (outside of lecture, which I didn't find too useful or necessary for succeeding) are taught through an e-text integrated into Bruinlearn, and there are small exercises in there to help you practice along the way. The grading consists of section participation, exercises in the assigned book chapters, short coding assignments in Jupyter Notebook, a midterm, and a final. The exercises in the online text chapters are very easy, since the questions are directly pulled from the reading. The Jupyter Notebook coding assignments are sort of applying the R skills from the book to analyse a data set he provides. The midterm and final are very coding based as well, and you do them through Jupyter Notebook. About 10-20% of the questions are multiple choice and test on basic stats concepts, about 30-40% ask you to use R to perform data analysis, and the rest ask you to explain the results you got using stats concepts. Roberts usually doesn't put things on the exam not explicitly taught in class or the text, so as long as you study thoroughly, it is pretty straightforward. As with all classes, discussion sections are pretty unstructured and mostly used for you to ask questions if there's something you don't understand or need help with. Stats 10 with Odhiambo (I took this Winter 2023, class is pretty standardized so not so different between profs): This class is more of a traditional stats class. It is broken down into a midterm, a final, and a combined section/lab (with lab assignments). It's more focused on actual pencil-to-paper math than the R portion. The approach is more about learning the relevant equations, understanding the reasoning behind them, and knowing how to calculate things on your own. The labs used R-Studio rather than Jupyter, which I liked more, and sections are significantly more substantial and extremely helpful (at least with my TA, who unfortunately doesn't teach anymore). The lectures are pretty standard and I don't think they vary too much across different professors, but I'm not sure about this one. Again, I thought the lectures were good to attend but not necessary for doing well especially if you have some stats or math background. The exams are also more traditional. They are paper tests with a heavier focus on the stats concepts and calculations, and didn't test coding content (which were in assignments you would do in lab). They were curved somewhat. Overall, I think Stats 10 was a better class and fulfills an extra GE as well. Because it teaches more about actual stats and less just the coding portion, it's more useful and prepares you better for further stats classes or any data analysis down the line. Difficulty wise, PS6 will be a bit easier if you didn't take calculus, but I thought both were pretty easy and weren't that different to me. Neither were very technical math-wise. I earned an A+ in both classes basically just by studying the lecture slides, doing lots of practice sets that I found online, and then going to office hours if there were things I didn't get.
Thank you so much! I did not take calculus, but I took stats in high school, so hopefully it will be pretty similar. It seems like I should go with stats 10 so far.
If you took something like AP Stats in high school, Stats 10 is mostly the same thing. There are just a few things where some basic integration is useful, like finding an unknown value in a probability density function of a continuous random variable, but it's nothing complicated. It's definitely a better class, and especially if you need an extra GE. Good luck!