Teaching

Frequently Asked Questions
Life & Death in the USA: Medicine and Disease in Social Context

Q: I've never taken a Sociology course before; will this be a good fit for me?
A: Yes! If you have any interest in the relationships between health and society, it will be a good fit.  In past years, students from diverse concentrations, such as economics, psychology, government, anthropology, sociology, philosophy, biology, chemistry, physics, history of science, history, and many other concentrations at Harvard have enrolled in the class.

Q: I'm interested in public health; will this be a good fit for me?
A: Yes! The readings span the medical, public health, and social science literatures, and they reflect both qualitative and quantitative approaches.  In many ways, this course serves as an introduction to the field of public health.

Q: Do many pre-meds take the class?
A: Perhaps 20-25% of the students taking the class are pre-meds.  

Q: Do I need any statistical or quantitative background for this class?
A: No.  We'll be considering how social scientists, epidemiologists, public health experts, and doctors use theory to understand health outcomes and how they make "causal inferences" based on observational or experimental data; however, students are not expected to have in-depth knowledge of social science methods or statistics.  

Q: There was an equation in one of the slides and this scared me. I know you're going to pull something sneaky and ask me to calculate this for the midterm
or final.
A: No.  We absolutely will not ask you to calculate Gini coefficients, Yitzhaki inequality measures, or age-adjusted mortality for the midterm or final.  We do, however, want you to understand the intuition behind these kinds of equations, and why it might be useful for public health reasons to try and calculate things like this.

Q: Will the slides from the lectures be available online?
A: No.  However, we'll periodically distribute key slides in class or section, and the lectures are podcast.  You can download the .mp3s from the home page, or subscribe in iTunes.

Q: Does Dr. Christakis really mean it when he says to come to office hours?
A: Yes.  Dr. Christakis is very engaged at office hours (Wednesdays, 4:15-7 pm, at WJH 570).  You can make an appointment or drop in.  Often times, a conversation gets going among a bunch of students who have dropped by during office hours. The best thing you can do to help Dr. Christakis get to know you and remember your name is to come to office hours. This is the sociology department – we encourage sociability in any form!

Q: Can I take this course P/F?
A: Yes, but you must see Dr. Christakis after class and introduce yourself and explain why you're electing this option.  In the past, about 10-15% of students have taken the class Pass/Fail.  Evaluation of the distribution of grades for students electing this option shows that the mean is almost the same as those who take the course for a letter grade.

Q: I'm a senior, and will be finishing my thesis this term, but it's due around the time of the Soc190 midterm. Can I have an extension?
A: We recognize that a number of concentrations have theses due just before or just after our midterm. Our sense is that experienced seniors are in a position to take the midterm (which is just 20% of the grade) and also complete their theses!

Q: The course looks interesting, but I don't really have room in my schedule; can I audit?
A: Only if space allows, and with permission of the instructor; please defer to those around you who are taking it for a requirement.

Q: What is the historic grade distribution?
A: Overall, over the past three years, about 15% of students get an A, 30% get an A-, 25% get a B+, 20% get a B, 5% get a B-, and 5% get a C-range grade.  This is the distribution before the Pass/Fail grades are implemented (historically, most C grades have been among students who have taken the class Pass/Fail, not surprisingly).

Q: Is Soc190 a core class?
Yes, in the past, it has counted as a core alternate for social analysis.  However, please check with the registrar the year you take the class to be sure.

Q: Are there ABL sections in this course?
No, sorry.  This has been done in some prior years, but not at present.

Q: How are the written assignments graded?
A: The four 800-900 word responses are graded on a 10-pt scale.  These assignments are fairly short, and you'll have a great deal of choice about which sessions you'd like to write on throughout the term. It's a good way to pull together your reading notes into some coherent themes, and if you write them well, they'll make for great midterm and final prep for you.  These assignments plus section participation account for 30% of your grade.

Q: This is a large class with a lot of sections.  Are students in other sections being graded the same as me?
A: All TFs follow the same standardized grading procedures on your response papers, and we grade exams together. We'll also take any TF variation between sections into account on your final grade.  Dr. Christakis is committed to personally reviewing all mid-terms and finals and assigns final grades.

Q: How are students assigned to sections?
A: We do online sectioning the first week of class.  Given all the moving parts, this is a difficult challenge, but we offer many section times and, in the end, virtually all students find a time that works well for them.

Q: I'm a graduate student; can I take this class?
A: Yes.  But graduate students taking Soc 190 for credit should see the instructor in order to arrange different requirements.

Q: I have a tutorial that overlaps with one of the weekly lectures. Can I catch up via the podcast? I promise to be diligent about keeping up with the work.
A: No. We're sorry, but this cannot be accommodated. In addition, the registrar's online system will not allow this conflict.

Q: The class is clearly being offered in AY 08/09, that is, in the spring of 2009. But will it also be offered next year, in the spring of 2010?
A: No.  Dr. Christakis will be on leave, so the class will not be offered in 2010.  It will resume in its regularly scheduled time in 2011.  Seniors graduating in 2009 who are interested in taking this class are therefore encouraged to take it this year.

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© 2008 Nicholas Christakis