Providing a Model for Improving the Quality of Research Services By Means of SERVQUAl and KANO Models

Measurement of quality of services is of greatimportance in determining the level of improvement in an organization, such as university. Universities, which are the main centers forproducing the science and knowledge, should always measure the quality of their research and educational services, in order to improve the satisfaction level of college students, teachers, and other classesof society. Also not using a scientific method to evaluate and improve the quality of these services will make improper use of intellectual capacities of society and poor policymaking in the field of research. Regarding the importance of research in universities, in this study we surveyed the quality of research services in Yazd University by means ofthe SERVQUAL Model and provide an improved model for this type of services. Thus, at first we created the questionnaire for evaluation of quality of research services.Thenthe validity and reliability confirmation of the questionnaire, distributed in thestatistical society, has been evaluated. The result of this research illustrates a negative gap in all dimensions of the SERVQUAL Model. Furthermore,the 19 indexes havinga negative gap,by use ofthe KANO Model, were classified under three categories as follows: “Essential Requirements”, “One Dimensional Requirements” and “Attractive Requirements”. In order to identify the improvement priorities, the indicators were ranked in each of these three categories. The result of the ranking shows that “sufficientknowledge aboutthe employees and their adequacy to respond theprofessors’ questions” is the main factor in the satisfaction ofresearch services in state universities.