Protocol for the 2023 CERA General Membership Survey

Area of Science:

• Medical Education Research
• Family Medicine Research
• Physician Demographics

Background:

• The Council of Academic Family Medicine (CAFM) Educational Research Alliance (CERA) supports family medicine educational research.
• CERA conducts annual surveys targeting distinct groups within family medicine.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present the methodology and demographic characteristics of the 2023 CERA General Membership Survey.
• To establish a baseline understanding of the physician population surveyed.

Main Methods:

• A call for proposals was issued from June to July 2023, resulting in five accepted topics targeting physicians.
• The survey was distributed via SurveyMonkey to select CAFM members from November 20 to December 22, 2023.
• Statistical analysis included chi-squared and Fisher's exact tests.

Main Results:

• A total of 3,598 physicians were eligible, with 833 completing the survey, yielding a 23.2% response rate.
• Demographic comparison revealed no significant differences in gender, location, or underrepresented in medicine status between respondents and non-respondents.
• Respondents were slightly older, less likely to be Asian, and more likely to hold an MD or combined doctorate degree.

Conclusions:

• The 2023 CERA General Membership Survey focused on active physicians, detailing its methods and respondent demographics.
• The demographics of survey respondents showed minor variations compared to the overall eligible physician pool.
• Individual study findings from the accepted survey topics will be published separately by the respective authors.