Syllabus for Master Program of the Dept. of Criminology, College of Education,
CCU , Fall 2025
Course: Research Methods for Behavioral Science (3455001)
Required course, 3 credit hours, Tuesday 09:10-12:00
Lecturer: Professor Cheng, Jui-Lung 鄭瑞隆(Ph.D. in SW, U. of Illinois)
Office: Office of the Dean of the College of Education, or R619, Building I of the College of Education, Dept. of Criminology
TEL: 05-2720411 ext. 26000, or 36305 Email: crmjlc@ccu.edu.tw

Course Objective: This core and required course for Master Program will help graduate students learn basic knowledge and various skills for conducting empirical social research. Under the guidance of lecturer, the students will expect to explore basic concept of social and behavioral study, application for social events, criminal justice, ethics of social research, and proposal design for master thesis research. Critic and appraise ability to research reports or papers will also be emphasized and cultivated during the semester by mid-term oral reporting. All the knowledge and skills learned in this course could help graduate students gain solid background knowledge and ability for future empirical criminal Justice and social research.

Textbook: (Please note that it’s illegal and is subject to be fined and suited if copying the designated texts inappropriately being found.)
Maxfield, M. G., Babbie, E., & Schuck, A. M. (2025). Research methods for criminal justice and Criminology (9th ed.). NY: West/ Wadsworth.

Topics by week: *means that Dean Cheng has to attend Professor Evaluation Committee
Week 1. 9/9 Orientation & Introduction（Ch.1）
Week 2. 9/16 Ethics and CJ Research(Ch.3)
Week 3. 9/23 Ethics and CJ Research(Ch.3)
Week 4. 9/30 General Issues in Research Design (Ch. 4)
Week 5. 10/7 General Issues in Research Design (Ch. 4)
Week 6. 10/14 Concepts, Operationalization, and Measurement (Ch. 5)
Week 7. 10/21 Experimental and Quasi-experimental Designs (Ch. 7)
Week 8. 10/28 Experimental and Quasi-experimental Designs (Ch. 7)
(Topic of mid-term oral report chosen)
Week 9. 11/4 Data Collection and Sampling (Ch. 8)
Week 10. 11/11 Sampling (Ch. 8)
Week 11. 11/18 Survey Research and Other Ways (Ch.9)
Week 12. 11/25 Survey Research and Other Ways (Ch.9)
Week 13. 12/2 Field Research (Ch. 10)
Week 14. 12/9 Field Research (Ch. 10)
Week 15. 12/16 Secondary Data and Content Analysis (Ch. 11)
Week 16. 12/23 Secondary Data and Content Analysis (Ch. 11)

Final term paper must be submitted by Dec. 23, 2025.

Course Evaluation
A. Mid-term oral report: 20%
B. Assignment & In-class exam: 20%
C. Participation & Discussion: 20 %
D. Final term paper: 40%

Note
A. All mid-term oral reports will be held in-class on an individual or group basis.
B. Each student or group should choose 3 English-written academic papers for study and choose one of the papers for oral report in class. All the 3 paper critics should be submitted on a roughly once-per-month interval.
C. The final term paper written by each of the student in English should be submitted by Dec. 23, 2025. All late submissions will be resulted in discounted scores.

Honesty Policy: Any submitted assignments or term paper should declare and disclose if AI tool or ChatGPT was utilized to form or help writing up of the paper.