Protocol for the 2024 CERA Department Chair Survey.

Abstract

Introduction: CERA, the Council of Academic Family Medicine (CAFM) Educational Research Alliance, is a program that provides an infrastructure for educational survey research. Members of the CAFM organizations can submit proposals to survey subgroups within academic family medicine. CERA's mission includes the production of rigorous medical education research as well as mentorship for newer researchers. The purpose of this article is to describe the methodology of the 2024 CERA Department Chair survey.

Methods: The call for proposals for the survey was open from April 1-30, 2024. Ten proposals were received and five were accepted following a competitive peer-review process. The survey, which included questions from these five research teams as well as standard demographic questions, was approved by the American Academy of Family Physicians Institutional Review Baord. The sample was all chairs of departments of family medicine in the United States and Canada, as identified using member databases of CAFM organizations and responses to prior CERA surveys. The survey was then sent out via email using the Survey Monkey platform from August 13, 2024 through September 20, 2024.

Results: The survey received 111 responses out of a population 218 potential participants, for a response rate of 50.92%. No significant differences were found for race/ethnicity, gender, age, or location between responders and the overall population.

Conclusions: The 2024 CERA Department Chair Survey had an acceptable response rate, and no difference was found in demographic characteristics between responders and the overall population.