『我推薦劉正山老師的《政治學方法論》課程的理由：
 
一般而言，進入研究所念書的學子，對於所學的領域，大多有一定的知識背景與基礎，尤其是博士班。但擁有豐富的知識基礎，卻不知如何產出建設性論述的話，則需要方法論的訓練，包括「如何蒐集資料、分析資料，最後產出建設性結論」等原理原則。我相信這也是本所將《政治學方法論》訂為博士班必修課的原因之一。畢竟嚴謹的研究方法與論述過程，是學術價值的重要面向。
 
而劉正山老師的《政治學方法論》課程裡，則包括了對上述方法論原理原則的思辨以及相關知識體系的建立，是本所學生未來進行各種論述文本的產出，尤其在選擇研究方法時，不可或缺的思想指引。
 
所以，無論是抱著何種目的進來念研究所，尤其是博士班的學生，劉正山老師的《政治學方法論》，是不能錯過的課程之一。雖然是必修，但絕對是值得您用一個學期的時間好好投入其中的課程。』

Methodology is about what how we gain knolwdge, a tool by which we evaluate questions we ask, the methods we use, and knowledge we acquire. We will focus on reasons of doing research and help you look beyond current scope of research. Students will be guided to think widely at the discipline level by overview the major debates or controversies in the discipline. We will also evaluate some examples that may or may not advance our knowledge regarding our political life. While its reading load is heavier than other master-level courses, this course will focus more on intellectual discussion about current research in the field than on readings itself. To be more systematically formulate the flow of our discussion, the following subjects will be introduced in class, each of which will take about two weeks of reading and discussion. Note that these topics and relavent readings are introduced only for discussion purpose. We may introduce new topics and readings or modify the reading list as the semester goes.