The purpose of this survey is to measure the satisfaction index of the students of "The LIMIT College", Allama Iqbal Town, Lahore. The survey was conducted on sample basis and it was decided to obtain response of 50 students of The LIMIT College. In order to ease in administration of the survey, the Allam Iqbal Town Campus of the College was selected.
Students of Bachelor Degree program studying in 3rd year and 4th year were selected as sample and in order to avoid complexity, it was decided to choose only subject for survey. The students themselves choose Islamiyat and its teacher for feedback. It is pertinent to mention that same person is teaching Islamiyat to both the classes.
As mentioned, the planned sample size was 50 students, therefore 50 questionnaires were distributed to the students of 3rd year and 4th year classes and all 50 questionnaires were received back. However, in some cases a few items were not marked and few items were marked as "Don't Know". The survey results have filtered these both cases as missed cases and the response is counted in number column in Table B-3.
Due to certain reasons, students were given an option to mention their Names or otherwise, similarly, mentioning teacher's name was also an option for the respondent. Majority of the respondents did not mention both the names.
The questionnaire used in this survey consists of 6 sections; the 1st section was meant to obtain demographic information of the respondent and the remaining 5 sections were meant for feedback of the respondent on Service Quality of The LIMIT College using 5 dimensions of Parasuraman's SERVQUAL model.
The survey finding indicates that overall Students Satisfaction Index of The LIMIT College is 3.39. The Reliability Dimension remain with highest Satisfaction Level at 3.84 and Empathy remained at lowest Satisfaction Level at 2.96
The details are provided in the body of this report with the conclusion at the end of the report.
A blank questionnaire and 3 filled questionnaires are also attached with this report at the end of the report.
Abstract:
This Study attempts to establish the Students Satisfaction of "The LIMIT College", Allama Iqbal Town, Lahore as a part of Course Work for TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT at PIQC for MS HRM Class using Parasuraman's SERVQUAL Dimensions. This study also analyzes the significant factors in service quality dimensions (Reliability, Responsiveness, Assurance, Empathy and Tangible) that contribute most to the students' satisfaction of the LIMIT College.
The Lahore Institute of Management & Information Technology (LIMIT) College, Allama Iqbal Town Lahore is a part of the "The LIMIT Group of Colleges". The group has various campuses in major cities of Punjab and offering a wide range of courses starting from Intermediate, Undergraduate, Postgraduate and Language courses. For the purpose of the survey a sample of 50 Students was selected from Bachelor Degree (BA) Students using a Likert Scale Questionnaire comprising of 25 questions covering 5 Dimension of Service Quality. In order to avoid complexity in the survey and to bring uniformity in the results, students were asked to rate only one subject and "ISLAMIYAT" was selected to rate.
Introduction:
In Pakistan the Education Sector at Undergraduate and Postgraduate level has expanded significantly over the last 2 decades. Today the academic environment is very competitive where students have many options available, the factors that enable educational institutions to attract and retain student should be studied seriously. The educational institution with an intention to gain competitive advantage need to find effective and creative ways to attract, retain and foster stronger relationships with the students. The successful institutions give great deal of importance to "CUSTOMER SATISFACTION" - the students in this case which is similar to the business organizations. This survey attempts to explore the aspects of Service Quality and level of Students' Satisfaction at "The LIMIT College" , Allama Iqbal Town, Lahore.
Methodology:
The Survey was adopted from the Parasuraman's SERVQUAL Dimensions for this purpose a survey questionnaire was developed. The survey aims at measuring Overall Students' Satisfaction and Service Quality in "The LIMIT College" that measures the level of satisfaction with the quality of service. The dimensions included in this survey are; Reliability, Responsiveness, Assurance, Empathy and Tangible.
Sample:
The samples in this survey were the students of Bachelor degree studying at "The LIMIT College" , Allama Iqbal Town Lahore. Respondents consist of BA degree students of 3rd Year and 4th Year class studying ISLAMIYAT as a compulsory course. The questionnaire was distributed to 50 students and finally all 50 questionnaires were received back, which represents 100% response rate.
Instrumentation:
This survey used questionnaire as a medium to obtain the required data. The respondent was given a 1-5 Likert Scale to respond the question, where 1 denotes "Strongly Agree", 2 denotes "Agree", 3 denotes "Neither Agree Nor Disagree", 4 denotes "Disagree" and 5 denotes "Strongly Disagree". Another option on likert scale is Don't Know option. The There are 6 sections in the questionnaire. The First section is meant of demographic information of the student including Name (as an Option), Class, Subject, Teacher's Name (again as an option), Gender and Age. The Second section comprises of 5 questions on Reliability Dimension. The 3rd Section comprises of 5 questions on Responsiveness Dimension. The 4th Section comprises of 6 questions on Assurance Dimension. The 5th Section comprises of 4 questions on Empathy Dimension. The 6th and the last Section comprises of 5 questions on Tangible Dimension.
Data Analysis:
The data analysis for this survey is conducted through "IBM SPSS Statistics version 19". Initially the data was tabulated in "MS Excel" and exported to the SPSS Statistics.
Findings:
Profile of the Respondents:
The demographic information consists of the following characteristics of the respondent: Gender, Age and Class of Study. The demographic information is represented in Table A-1 based on frequency and percentages and also represented in Figure A-1, A-2, A-3 and A-4.
Out of 50 respondents, 31 (62%) are Female and 19 (38%) are Male. 20 (40%) respondents are 3rd Year Students and 30 (60%) respondents are 4th year Students. Out of 31 Female respondents 14 (28% of sample size) are in 3rd year class, and 13 (26% of sample size) are in 4th year class. Out of 19 Male respondents, 6 (12% of sample size) are in 3rd year class and 13 (26% of sample size) are in 4th year class.
Profile of the Respondents
Female
3rd Year
14
28.0%
4th Year
17
34.0%
Total
31
62.0%
Male
3rd Year
6
12.0%
4th Year
13
26.0%
Total
19
38.0%
Total
3rd Year
20
40.0%
4th Year
30
60.0%
Total
50
100.0%
Table A-1
Figure A-1 Figure A-2
Figure A-3 Figure A-4
From the 50 respondents, 13 (26%) students are 18 years old, 19 (38%) students are 19 years old, 17 (34%) students are 20 years old and 1 (2%) student is 21 years old. Mean Age is 19.2 years, whereas Minimum age is 18 years and maximum age is 21 years.
Statistics- Age Age Wise Profile of the Respondents
N
Valid
50
Mean
19.12
Mode
19
Minimum
18
Maximum
21
Age
Frequency
Percent
18
13
19
19
20
17
21
1
Total
50
Table A-2 Table A-3
Figure A-5 Figure A-6
B- Overall Students' Satisfaction Index:
Figure B-1 expresses the Over Students Satisfaction Index of The LIMIT College, Lahore. The overall Students' Satisfaction Index is suggested from Figure B-1 is 3.39.
The Figure B-2 tells us some more details of the Overall Students Satisfaction Index from another angle. This figure tells that the minimum Students' Satisfaction Index is 1.89 and maximum is 4.12. It also shown that with some extreme values (Outliers) at the lower side, the Satisfaction Level of 25% students is <= 3.11 and Satisfaction Level of 25% students is >=3.78. Figure also shows the Median 3.47 that indicates that 50% students' satisfaction level is > 3.47 and 50% Students Satisfaction Level is < 3.47. The figure also shows that satisfaction level of 75% students is <= 3.78.
Figure B-1 Figure B-2
In addition to the Overall Mean (students' Satisfaction Index -3.39) the Table B-1 also shows the scores of each dimension with the highest score of Reliability as 3.84 (on 5 point likert Scale) followed by Tangibility as 3.47, Assurance 3.46, Responsiveness 3.12 and Empathy remained lowest at 2.96.
As shown in the Table B-1 and Figure B-3 the overall Students Satisfaction index is 3.39, which may lead to an opinion that students of "The LIMIT College" are a little satisfied with the overall service quality of the College. However, this result does not establish that The LIMIT College has Good Students' Service Quality.
Students' Satisfaction
N
Students, Satisfaction Index
50
Reliability
50
Responsiveness
50
Assurance
50
Empathy
50
Tangible
50
Table B-1
The Students Satisfaction Index as compared with each dimension and overall mean is reflected in the Figure B-3.
Overall and Dimension Wise Students' Satisfaction Index
Figure B-3
The results suggest that the College needs to focus on Empathy and Responsiveness in order to improve overall students' satisfaction. On an overall Satisfaction Index, as shown in Table B-2 the minimum score is 1.89 and maximum score is 4.12 that suggest that there are some students who feel that their satisfaction is worse than expected and there are students who feel that their satisfaction are better than expected.
Overall Statistics
Mean
Minimum
Maximum
Table B-2
While analyzing each item In Table B-3 it is noticed that the Item 1.5 (about the completion of course before the final exam) under the Dimension Reliability scored highest Mean i.e. 4.15 that suggests that majority of the students feel that the study pace is appropriate to complete the course before the final examination. This is followed by item 3.6 (about the qualification, competence and grip of teacher on the subject) under dimension Assurance scoring a Mean 4.10 that also suggests that majority of the students have faith in Teacher's capability and competency.
Whereas the item 2.4 (handling students' complaints) scored the lowest i.e. 2.27 that suggests that the channel to handle students' complaint is not effective and it needs to be more effective. The second lowest is scored by item 5.3 (Infrastructure suits to Curricular & Co-Curricular Needs) at 2.29 suggesting that the college should also improve on the infrastructure that is suitable not only the curricular needs of the students but is also suitable to co-curricular needs of the students. It is also seen in the table that the item was highest satisfaction is towards Reliability and item wise lowest satisfaction is towards Responsiveness.
It is also evident from the Table B-3 that the Reliability Dimension has the highest Mean i.e. 3.84 followed by the Tangible Dimension at 3.47 and Assurance Dimension at 3.46.
The Empathy Dimension has the lowest Mean at 2.96 and with the lowest item wise Mean for item 4.3 (easy access to supportive study material and computer facilities) at 2.84 whereas the highest Mean Within Empathy Dimension is scored by item 4.4 (regular information about progress and extended help to improve progress) at 3.04. Students feel that they are not given proper attention by the college staff and teaching staff and the teaching staff is not enough considerate to the specific study needs.
Table B-3 shows Student Satisfaction measured from all the Five dimensions starting from the Reliability containing 5 items, followed by Responsiveness containing 5 Items, Assurance containing 6 items, Empathy containing 4 items and Tangible containing 5 items, totaling 25 items.
Item Wise Descriptive Statistics
Items
No.
Reliability
1.1 The Teacher is always well prepared on daily lecture.
50
1.2 The method of instruction is clear and easily understandable.
48
1.3 The Teacher is reasonably skillful in delivering daily lecture
49
1.4 Study Problems are resolved with proper attention and interest.
48
1.5 The study pace indicates that course will be completed before final exams.
48
Responsiveness
2.1 School Staff is all the time available to address administrative queries.
48
2.2 Queries (related to study or admin) are addressed promptly without unreasonable delay.
46
2.3 Teaching Staff is available to resolve study problems.
49
2.4 School has an effective channel to handle students' complaints.
49
2.5 School staff including teachers provides correct and timely information about assignments, exam schedules and results etc.
48
Assurance
3.1 School Staff deals with courtesy and helps to build my confidence.
50
3.2 School has sufficient security arrangements and I feel protected while at school premises.
50
3.3 Class room instructions are relevant and appropriate.
47
3.4 Class lectures are always helpful to my studies at home.
50
3.5 Teacher is available beyond class timings to build my knowledge on the subject.
50
3.6 Teacher is qualified, competent and holds complete on the subject.
50
Empathy
4.1 I receive individual attention and due importance by the school staff and teaching staff.
48
4.2 The teaching staff is compassionate and considerate to my specific study needs.
47
4.3 I have easy access to supportive study material and computer facilities.
49
4.4 I am regularly informed about my progress in the class and have extended help to improve my progress.
50
Tangible
5.1 Class rooms are appropriately lightened and clean.
49
5.2 Layout of the class is comfortable and suits to study needs.
48
5.3 School has appropriate infrastructure that suits to my Curricular and Co-Curricular needs.
49
5.4 The appearance of school infrastructure is well-maintained, neat and clean.
49
5.5 The school staff is well dressed and possesses appealing personality.
49
Table B-3
C- Gender Wise Students' Satisfaction:
Table C-1 indicates the Students satisfaction index by Gender. It is pertinent that the Satisfaction Level of Female Students and the Male Students is almost the same. The Satisfaction Index for Female Students is at 3.39 and for Male Students is 3.8.
The Satisfaction Level under Reliability scored highest within Female students at 3.96 whereas, the Empathy Dimension within Female students scored lowest at 2.78.
Amongst the Male students the Reliability Dimension again remained at highest satisfaction level with Mean score of 3.65 whereas the Empathy Dimension and Tangible Dimension remained at lowest Mean Score both at 3.25.
The Table C-1 also indicates that the Empathy Dimension scored lower mean for Female Students as compared with the Male students. This may suggest that there are certain items where Male Students have privilege over Female Students within Empathy Dimension. This is evident from the Table C-2 that the Male Students receives BETTER individual attention from college Staff and Teaching Staff and the Teaching Staff is MORE Compassionate and Considerate to Male Students' Specific Needs as compared to Female Students. Similarly Male students are MORE informed about their progress in the class and they receive BETTER Help to improve their progress as compared to the Female Students.
The Gender wise Students' Satisfaction Results are also shown graphically under Figure C-1 where means of five dimensions of service quality are compared with an overall service quality mean by gender.
Gender Wise Service Quality Index
Gender
Reliability
Responsiveness
Assurance
Empathy
Tangible
Overall
Female
3.96
3.14
3.47
2.78
3.61
3.39
Male
3.65
3.29
3.45
3.25
3.25
3.38
Table C-1
Figure C-1
Item Wise Mean for Female & Male Students under EMPATHY Dimension
Gender
Question No. 4.1
Question No. 4.2
Question No. 4.3
Question No. 4.4
Female
Mean
2.73
2.77
2.77
2.84
Male
Mean
3.33
3.31
2.94
3.37
Table C-2
Figure C-2 indicates that among Female Students, the Reliability Dimension's average score ranges from 2.4 to 5.0 with extreme values on both sides suggesting a Range 2.60, whereas, amongst the Male Students, the Reliability Dimension's average score is ranging from 1.2 to 5.0 with extreme value at lower side suggesting a Range 3.80. The Reliability Data for Male Student is widely spread as compare to the Female Students. The Reliability Dimension Median for both Female and Male Students is 4.0.
The Responsiveness Dimension's Average Score ranges from 1.2 to 4.0 amongst Female Students with extreme value on lower side suggesting a range 2.8, where as the Male Students rated this dimension with an average Score ranging from 1.75 to 4.0 suggesting a range of 2.25. The Median for Female Students is 3.20 and for Male Student's is 3.40.
It is clearly seen in Figure C-2 that the Assurance Dimension of Service Quality's Score amongst Female Student ranges from 1.67 to 4.17 suggesting a range 2.50 with extreme values at lower side, while amongst the Male Students the score ranges from 1.67 to 4.33 with extreme values at lower side, suggesting a range 2.67. The Median Score for Female and Male Student is the same i.e. 3.67.
While analyzing Empathy Dimension on Gender basis it is observed that although Date Range is not very different amongst Female Students and Male Students i.e. 3.25 and 3.0 respectively but the Satisfaction Level of Female students is lower than the Male students. The Female Students minimum score is 1.0 and maximum is 4.25 whereas, the minimum score for Male Students is 1.75 and maximum is 4.75. The Median for female students remained at 2.67 and for male students it is 3.50. The median indicates that 50% Female satisfaction index is below 2.67 and 50% is above 2.67 whereas the Satisfaction index for Male Students shows better picture as 50% are leveled below 3.5 and 50% are above 3.5.
Tangible aspect of service quality indicates that female students' minimum satisfaction level is 2.2 and maximum is 4.8 with outliers in the data suggesting a range 2.6. When analyzing the box and whisker plot (Figure C-2) it is observed that 25% female students' satisfaction level is below or equal to 3.4 and 25% female students satisfaction level is above or equal to 4.0, whereas, the median stands at 3.6. The Box Plot (Figure C-2) of Tangible Dimension for Males students shows the minimum score 1.0 and maximum 4.0 with outliers at lower side suggesting a range 3.0. The Box Plot suggests that 25% Male Students' satisfaction level is below or equal to 3.2 and 25% Male Students' satisfaction level is above or equal to 3.6, whereas, median stands at 3.4 in the case of Male Students under the Dimension of Tangible.
Figure C-2
Figure C-3 indicates Gender wise overall students' satisfaction. This figure shows satisfaction level of female students is slightly better than the male students. The minimum satisfaction score for female students is 1.89 and maximum is 4.12 whereas, for male students the minimum satisfaction level is 2.0 and maximum is 4.04. Median Score for female students is 3.48 and for male students is 3.46, meaning thereby 50% female students' satisfaction score is below 3.48 and 50% female students' satisfaction score is above this point, while in case of male students this point resides at 3.46. The 75% students' satisfaction level for female students is equal to or less than 3.69 and for male students is 3.82. The outliers in both the cases indicate that there are some students whose satisfaction level is extremely different from the majority.
Figure C-3
D- Class Wise Students' Satisfaction:
3rd year Students' Satisfaction level is slightly better than 4th year Students. Amongst the 3rd year students the Reliability Dimension scored highest satisfaction level at 3.88 mean followed by Assurance and Tangible, both at 3.64 mean and Empathy at lowest satisfaction level at 3.07 mean. Whereas, amongst the 4th year students, Reliability Dimension again remained at highest satisfaction level with 3.82 mean followed by Tangible Dimension at 3.36 mean and Assurance Dimension at 3.34 mean, while Empathy remained again at lowest with 2.89 mean.
Figure D-1 represents the Service Quality of all 5 dimension with average results compared with the overall service quality of "The LIMIT College". On an overall basis the Figure suggests that 3rd year students are a little more satisfied than the 4th year students.
Class Wise Service Quality Mean
Class of Study
Reliability
Responsiveness
Assurance
Empathy
Tangible
Overall
3rd Year
3.88
3.25
3.64
3.07
3.64
3.50
4th Year
3.82
3.16
3.34
2.89
3.36
3.31
Table D-1
Figure D-1
Figure D-2 tell us some more detail of class wise Students Satisfaction of each dimension. The Figure D-2 expresses the following details:
Reliability 3rd Year Student ïƒ lowest 1.2, Highest 5.0, Range 3.8, 25% of the Students Satisfaction level under Reliability is <= 3.8 and 25% is >= 4.2, Median is 4.1.
Reliability 4th Year Student ïƒ lowest 2.2, Highest 4.6, Range 2.4, 25% of the Students Satisfaction level under Reliability is <= 3.4 and 25% is >= 4.25, Median is 4.0.
Responsiveness 3rd Year Student ïƒ lowest 1.75, Highest 4.0, Range 2.25, 25% of the Students Satisfaction level under Responsiveness is <= 3.0 and 25% is >= 3.71, Median is 4.1.
Responsiveness 4th Year Student ïƒ lowest 1.2, Highest 4.0, Range 2.8, 25% of the Students Satisfaction level under Responsiveness is <= 2.6 and 25% is >= 3.8, Median is 3.3.
Assurance 3rd Year Student ïƒ lowest 2.0, Highest 4.33, Range 2.33, 25% of the Students Satisfaction level under Assurance is <= 3.38 and 25% is >= 4.0, Median is 3.83.
Assurance 4th Year Student ïƒ lowest 1.67, Highest 4.33, Range 2.67, 25% of the Students Satisfaction level under Assurance is <= 3.04 and 25% is >= 3.88, Median is 3.5.
Empathy 3rd Year Student ïƒ lowest 1.75, Highest 4.75, Range 3.0, 25% of the Students Satisfaction level under Empathy is <= 2.25 and 25% is >= 3.75, Median is 3.0.
Empathy 4th Year Student ïƒ lowest 1.0, Highest 4.5, Range 3.5, 25% of the Students Satisfaction level under Empathy is <= 2.25 and 25% is >= 3.5, Median is 2.75.
Tangible 3rd Year Student ïƒ lowest 2.0, Highest 4.8, Range 2.8, 25% of the Students Satisfaction level under Tangible is <= 3.4 and 25% is >= 4.15, Median is 3.6.
Tangible 4th Year Student ïƒ lowest 1.0, Highest 4.2, Range 3.2, 25% of the Students Satisfaction level under Tangible is <= 3.2 and 25% is >= 3.8, Median is 3.4.
Figure D-2
Class wise Students' Satisfaction Index may be looked on an overall basis. Figure D-3 represents this index. This figure illustrates that 3rd year students are relatively more satisfied with the service quality of The LIMIT College as compared to the 4th year students.
The minimum satisfaction index for 3rd year students is 2.0 and maximum is 4.12 whereas the minimum and maximum index for 4th year students is 1.89 and 3.93 respectively.
Outliers are also noticed in the satisfaction index of both the classes. The satisfaction index of 25% 3rd year class students is 3.21 and below where as this index for 4th year students is 3.06 and below. 50% 3rd year class Students' Satisfaction is below 3.59 and 50% are above this point, whereas, in 4th year class, 50% Students' Satisfaction is below 3.39 and 50% are above this point. 25% 3rd year class Students' Satisfaction is 3.77 and above whereas, 25% 4th year class Students' Satisfaction in 3.79 and above.
Figure D-3
Conclusion:
Based on the data, students' feedback and the discussion above it is pertinent that the Satisfaction level of the students at The LIMIT College, Allama Iqbal Town, Lahore is not very good. In order to improve the students' satisfaction the college should focus on Empathy followed by Responsiveness. Reliability of the College seems somewhat good as it is at 3.84 mean. Improvement in the weak areas may lead the college in attraction and retention of the students in the competitive market place.
Figure E-1 Suggests item wise Five strong areas as follows:
Item 1.5 - The study pace indicates that the course will be completed before the final exams (4.15)
Item 3.6 - Teacher is qualified, competent and holds complete on the subject (4.1)
Item 5.4 - The appearances of school infrastructure is well-maintained, neat and clean (4.02)
Item 1.1 - The Teacher is always well prepared on daily lecture (3.98)
Item 5.1 - Class rooms are appropriately lightened and clean (3.96)
This Figure also suggests item wise Five weak areas as follows:
Item 2.4 - School has an effective channel to handle students' complaints (2.27)
Item 5.3 - School has appropriate infrastructure that suits to my Curricular and Co-Curricular needs (2.29)
Item 3.1 - School Staff deals with courtesy and helps to build my confidence (2.36)
Item 4.3 - I have easy access to supportive study material and computer facilities (2.84)
Item 4.2 - The teaching staff is compassionate and considerate to my specific study needs (2.96)
Item Wise Students' Satisfaction Index
Figure E-1
