with sb doing sth

[MARYAM]

gaining knowledge may be facilitated through such methods as reding ,listening,or actively participating - with most people having a distinct preference for one method over the other
in the above sentence what is the role of "with"?
2-if we have a non defining clause that begins with preposition "with"
3-of course,i know the stucture "with sb/sth doing sth"
please explain the meaning of undelined part

[Alan]

1. 'With' here, as always, is a preposition.

2. No. 'With...other' is simply a prepositional adverbial supplying additional information.

3. = most people (referred to in the foregoing section) have...