Selection of subjects

First, we selected one faculty member from each medical school using a list of faculty members from a medical education organization representing faculties in 80 Japanese medical schools. Those selected were full-time and highly ranked faculty members in each medical education department. About 78.7% of selected faculties were professors and 87.5% were males according to their first names.

Second, we sent the 80 faculty members double postcards in February 2018, requesting them to furnish referrals to key persons who could provide accurate information about SGM lectures in their medical schools. After sending the postcards, we also sent emails through mailing lists of medical education organizations encouraging the addressees to take the survey and return the cards to us. In addition, we resent the reminder emails through the same mailing list right before the deadline.