Employing a theoretical framework and making a theoretical contribution are recognized internationally as important elements in medical education research. The focus of this paper is on a fundamental stage of research design, such as identifying the research paradigm relevant to the researcher’s study philosophical assumptions, including ontology, epistemology and methodology. Paying attention to basic elements of research process (i.e., philosophical assumption ― research paradigm/theoretical perspective ― methodology ― methods), researchers can ensure consistency in research design and make not only practical but also theoretical contributions to existing knowledge.

Even if a writer has obtained interesting data and results, the quality of the research paper depends on how the author has academically and logically presented the findings and his or her interpretation of the data. This paper discusses what potential authors need to know about writing a high-quality research paper from the following perspectives: identification of research gap (s) based on literature review, clarification of author’s epistemological assumptions and employment of theoretical framework, emphasis on methodological rigor, provision of theoretical and practical implications that are applicable to readers’ context, and ensuring the consistency of author’s argumentation throughout the paper.

　Modern medical education stresses the importance of staff／faculty development and its evaluation. The Medical Education Development Center of Gifu University has been accredited by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology as a National Collaboration Center and has held Seminar and Workshop on medical education 50 times over 14 years towards achieving the mission of staff／faculty development in Japan. Through the analysis of the characteristics of participants and the topics of the workshops and seminars held by the Medical Education Development Center, the history and future of staff／faculty development were examined. The key points suggested to predict the direction of staff／faculty development in the education of health professionals were: acquisition of comprehensive teaching competence, various learning strategies, the importance of work place and practicality, collaborative learning beyond boundaries, scholarly discussion to integrate international and domestic evidence, continuing professional development, and evaluation based on learning stage.

　This paper reports how Gifu University has been developing an extracurricular course for interprofessional education (IPE) in collaboration with multi-institutions for three years. Since the planning and implementation of such an IPE course have not been described exhaustively, we summarize our experience and the outcomes based on the analysis of a questionnaire survey involving the participants, including students and faculty members.

　Few studies have examined medical students' perceptions of community medicine and specialty choice through comparison between students of quotas related to community medicine and regular admission. We conducted a questionnaire survey on students' desire for future work places, types of health facility/hospital, medical specialization, and community medicine involving year 1 to year 5 students in Gifu University School of Medicine (n=335, selective admission: regular admission=81:254) . This study demonstrated that the selected students for community medicine (years 1 to 5) preferred to work at a core/small-sized hospital in a rural area and tended to choose the specialties that were characterized by primary care, such as pediatrics. Moreover, they had positive perceptions of community medicine. Further follow-up study needs to be undertaken in order to explore how students are actually engaging in community medicine after graduation.

Introduction: The aim of this study is to explore career perceptions of male and female medical students.
Methods: Semi-structured interviews to 16 medical students (9males, 7 females) were undertaken.
Results: Qualitative data analysis showed that development of their career perceptions were affected by “gender view”, “interests in medicine” as well as their “perceptions of family”. Specifically, female students in the lower grades felt difficulty in making decisions on career choices due to the conflict between carrying out family responsibilities (e.g., housework and childcare) and interests in medicine. After clinical clerkships, their perceptions of a career were formed in one of two ways: giving priority to family responsibilities or interest in medicine. On the other hand, male students in lower and higher grades consistently gave priority to their interests in medicine for their career choices.
Conclusion: Differing career perceptions between male and female medical students emerged from this study, and supports the need for undergraduate education on gender-equality in society.

 The increase of female physicians and its undeveloped supporting system can be one of the causes of physicians' shortage. Although physicians' marriage/family perceptions and their influences on career choices have been extensively studied, those of medical students are not fully understood. An anonymous questionnaire survey was conducted involving male/female medical students in years 2 and 5 at Gifu University School of Medicine. The results showed that many male/female students hoped to get married, have children, and continue to work in the future, but different perceptions were demonstrated between the sexes with regards to the partners' occupation, working style, and influences of family/marriage perceptions on students' specialty choice. The results suggest the presence of sex-related differences in perceptions among medical students. The survey indicates the necessity of early undergraduate education for a better mutual understanding of gender issues.

In a workshop for health care education teachers, participants are expected to understand new teaching approaches, acquire them, and prepare themselves for tomorrow’s education. While role play is a well-known method for learning in the clinical classroom, this paper reported on an innovative learning strategy that utilizes skits. Firstly, participants generated ideas and set goals to demonstrate how they would change their teaching from tomorrow. Secondly, they arranged the setting for skits, made scenarios based on their own goals, decided the cast from among the group members, and performed the skits in front of the other participants. Thirdly, they did a peer review and debriefing of their skits. This innovative approach may accelerate participants’ ability to set practical goals that should change their future teaching behaviors.