An Assessment of Research Services Quality in Higher Education Centers with KANO- QFD Approach (Case Study: Physical Education and Sport Science Faculty, Guilan University)

The aim of this study was to assess the research services quality of Faculty of Physical Education and Sport Sciences at Guilan University from the viewpoints of postgraduate students. The population consisted of all postgraduate students of this faculty in the second semester of 2014-2015 academic year (N=162) and 108 students responded to the SERVQUAL questionnaires in both perceptions and expectations of research services quality. Also, Kano questionnaire was used to identify and categorize student's needs. The face and content validity of the questionnaires were confirmed by 10 professors. Their reliability was calculated in a pilot study using Cronbach's alpha coefficient (α=0.913 and α=0.954 for perceptions an exceptions questionnaires, α=0.832 for KANO questionnaire). Finally, 9 basic needs were imported into the house of quality of QFD model as the voice of the customer and 13 technical specifications were extracted to improve them. The results of data analysis showed that in all five mentioned dimensions, there was a negative quality gap (P≤0.05). The biggest negative gap was observed in the reliability dimension (-3.04) and financial support of students in research services. The results showed that lack of funding, planning, financial support of projects, not participating in seminars and lack of necessary research infrastructure were barriers and shortcomings of the research sector. It is recommended that research authorities should prioritize funding and attend question-answer meetings to identify student's research needs and to improve research service quality and to reduce the gap in this area.