Listening to the voice of students, developing a service quality measuring and evaluating framework for a special course

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to propose a service quality measuring and evaluating framework for courses that are not part of the regular end-of-semester course evaluation system because of their special characteristics. The results of an academic year-long application are also to be demonstrated.Design/methodology/approachBased on the SERVQUAL methodology and specific models proposed in the literature, altogether 26 statements related to project works were formulated, in case of which, students rated both the importance and performance addressed in each statement on a seven-point Likert scale. With an average 68 per cent response rate and more than 500 filled out questionnaires, importance-performance analyses complemented with statistical analysis were executed to investigate whether there are any differences between the different levels of project work courses, programmes, levels of studies and sub-departments. These results were then followed by focus group interviews by further addressing the importance issues.FindingsBased on the joint conclusions drawn from the statistical analyses and extracted from focus groups, those statements were highlighted that can be considered as dealing with critical to quality issues. The results have been utilized to adjust the questionnaire according to the “voice of students”.Research limitations/implicationsA complex approach is adopted to measure and evaluate service quality on a course level in the form of a post-course questionnaire. The first results lay the foundation for managerial decisions related to project work courses and supervising processes according to the plan–do–check–act philosophy.Originality/valueDuring project works, students can master the necessary professional knowledge and those inevitable soft skills that are needed to be successful in the labour market. Therefore, the measurement and evaluation of project work courses may provide new information on course-level service quality and may be linked to total student experience results.