Methodology and Past Topics for the 2025 CERA Department Chair Survey

The Council of Academic Family Medicine (CAFM) Educational Research Alliance (CERA) provides infrastructure and a streamlined process for multi-institutional educational research surveys within academic family medicine. This report outlines the methodology of the 2025 CERA Department Chair Survey, compares the demographics between actual and potential department chair survey respondents, and provides a summary of previous survey topics.

CERA issued a call for survey proposals from March 24, 2025 to May 4, 2025. Four proposals were accepted and questions were reviewed by five former department chairs. The omnibus survey combined the proposed question modules with standardized recurring demographic measures. We defined the sampling frame as all family medicine department chairs in the United States and Canada of Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME)-accredited medical schools as identified from CAFM member databases and prior CERA survey responses. The survey was conducted through SurveyMonkey from August 5, 2025 through September 15, 2025. We used Fisher's exact tests to compare demographics potential and actual survey respondents.

Of 210 eligible department chairs, 97 received and completed the survey, yielding a 45.7% response rate. Comparison of potential and actual survey respondent demographics showed no statistically significant differences by race/ethnicity, gender, age, or geographic location.

The 2025 CERA Department Chair Survey achieved an acceptable response rate, and sample respondents were representative of the potential population. The methods described can inform future multi-institutional educational surveys seeking engaged participation and representative samples.