Reimagining research design instruction: student and teacher reflections on the reverse research design

This piece is a follow-up on a pedagogical exercise called the “reverse research design” (Ayoub 2022). As a teaching tool, the reverse research design involves students stepping into the shoes of a published author and transporting themselves back in time to craft a grant proposal for an already-concluded study. This hands-on exercise guides them through the intricacies of research design while temporarily easing the anxiety of formulating their own research question and project. At the request of the QMMR editors, we  restate the goals of the original exercise but also build upon it by developing additional strategies for productive use in the classroom. To that end, it is vital to incorporate student viewpoints and feedback, which we do below by uniting the perspective of a student (Duckworth) and an instructor (Ayoub). Our endeavor is thus to offer a  more personal reflection about our experiences with this activity, coupled with a discussion of wider student feedback.