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Abstract

An efficient transmission of knowledge to students must be the main goal of any university teacher. The practical activities are the most preferred by students as they learn something closer to what they are going to practice in the future after finishing their studies, and additionally they experience in their hands the topics learnt. In the field of optometry, clinical subjects with a lot of clinical activities such as optometry, contact lenses, binocular vision or low vision are crucial as they will become parts of the common daily tasks of the optometry activity once completed the Degree. Although the aim of the majority of optometry students may be to develop the corresponding clinical skills to be good practitioners, the introduction of MSc and PhD degrees have also generated the possibility of completing the education of some optometrists with knowledge in research on eye and vision. The implementation of new master subjects, such as ‘‘Research Methods in optics, optometry and vision’’, helps students to have a more realistic idea of how to conduct research activities. This was implemented in our degree and indeed some students started their PhDs potentially influenced by subjects such as that previously mentioned. However, teaching how to perform research to Master students has not demonstrated its usefulness in our context. This year, as lecturers in the Master of Optometry and Vision of the University Complutense of Madrid (Spain), we