The themes derived from the data of this study confirmed the relevance of the seven service quality dimensions proposed in Chapter 3 to measure service quality in DE. These are tangibles, reliability, delivery, responsiveness, assurance and user participation. Four of these dimensions (tangibles, reliability, responsiveness and assurance) are SERVQUAL quality dimensions. Two dimensions (delivery and user participation) were derived from the literature. This tells us that SERVQUAL quality dimensions are important components of service quality in DE. The following section discusses the themes in relation to quality dimensions and proposes a context-specific service quality model for students in DE environments (Figure 4.1).
· Tangibles dimension
Tangibles were regarded as an important dimension of service quality by the students. The tangible dimension is supported by the study centres theme. Tangibles such as study centres and facilities such as computers and plugs were considered very important attributes of service quality in DE by students. There is evidence in the data that students regarded study centres as their second home. This is indicated by their comments:
Respondent 1: More of study centres should be made available for students.
Respondent 3: Please ask them to open the locked classrooms for us. We need to access the centre during examination times. We don’t have access.
Respondent 4: The centre has lots of classrooms and can accommodate a lot more people, but only a few classrooms are opened. The classrooms are overflowing. The workers refuse to open other classrooms. The centre is for everybody in our area, but the space allocated is not enough. Respondent 4: The classrooms are very dirty, unhygienic. Students eat from the classrooms. We need a decent place to eat from. We are not treated like university students. Secondly the classrooms are swept when we are there. Why can’t the cleaners clean when there are no students?
Respondent 5: The classrooms are not fine. The floors are dirty. Push for cleaning. Arrange for cleaning.
Respondent 6: Our study centre’s computer room is fully packed on Sundays. We need to interact with each other.
Respondent 7: We need more classrooms. Study centres get packed, more especially on weekends and we fail to get a place to study.
Respondent 8: We need plugs for our computers. We are IT students.
Another proposed service quality dimension that is regarded as important by students was the reliability dimension. The reliability dimension is supported by the theme of tutorial provision at Unisa. The qualitative data indicated that some services are provided as promised whilst others are not.
· Delivery dimension
Delivery is another dimension regarded as important in measuring service quality in DE as supported by the themes. Delivery themes relate to access to lecturers, tutors and administrative staff. Furthermore, delivery also involves giving students feedback and encouraging them. The delivery dimension has been derived from the work of Sangeeta et al (2004) and Owlia and Aspinwall (1996), and it finds support in the data of this study as evidenced in students’ comments about their lecturers, tutors and administrative staff:
§ Tutors “don’t have enough information.”
§ Lecturers “are never available anywhere, they never answer their phones even though their phone numbers appear in the Tutorial letters. They CANNOT pick up their phones.”
§ “We need lecturers from time to time. They are knowledgeable. We need their physical presence. They should be there to support the students – on WhatsApp or any social media.”
· Responsiveness dimension
Responsiveness is another dimension that has been found to be important in measuring the quality of student support services. The responsiveness dimension refers to themes related to staff’s willingness to help students beyond the call of duty (Parasuraman 1985). It also refers to providing prompt service and effective administration. Attributes of responsiveness are responses to telephone calls, e-mails and letters. This dimension finds support in the literature (Parasuraman et al 1985; Hussain & Birol 2011). It also finds support in this study’s data; all students indicated that phones are never answered despite having been given phone numbers
· Assurance dimension
This dimension was also found to be important in measuring service quality in DE and relates to the theme of lecturers’ and tutors’ knowledge of and competence of their work. It also refers to staff qualities such as courtesy towards their students and the ability to inspire trust and confidence in their students. This dimension finds support in the data, which indicates that this dimension is important. The administrative staff were said to be “very unprofessional”; “very rude”; “disrespectful”; “moody”; “cold”; “ignorant”; some however were regarded as “excellent.” On the other hand lecturers were regarded as “knowledgeable” by most of the participants.
· User participation dimension
User participation as a service quality dimension was proposed by this study and it is supported by themes of self-reliance and peer support groups. Although some students are independent learners (Respondent 1), other students “lean” on their support groups as they battle to understand the content. The data indicate that user participation is an important dimension to measure service quality in DE. One of the participants stated: “Most times we get help from peers who have previously done that module, but who also don’t know much.”
There were commonalities in the data which indicated a general consensus. According to Parasuraman et al (1985:44) commonalities suggest that “a general model of service quality can be developed”. This means that a model and measurements can be developed to understand and assess students’ expectations and perceptions of the quality of student support services in DE environments. Figure 4.1 shows the proposed model of service quality.
ATTRIBUTES
QUALITY DIMENSIONS
Figure 4.1: Student support service quality model Tangibles Reliability Delivery Responsiveness Assurance Study Centres Resources Equipment Administrative staff (personnel) Tutorial classes Communication Access to lecturers and
administrative staff Feedback
Guidance on learning and on assignments Encouragement of
students
Timeliness and promptness Effective administration
Skilled, knowledgeable, courteous and trustworthy
staff
Service quality
User participation Study Groups
4.8. CONCLUSION
This chapter presented the data collection and analysis procedures that were employed during the exploratory phase of this study. Data collection and analysis approaches, sampling and interview procedures were explained. The insights of the study were also discussed. From the insights, it became evident that a context-specific service quality model can be developed. The next chapter presents the processes and procedures that were followed during the quantitative phase of the study.
THE QUANTITATIVE STUDY
5.1. INTRODUCTION
The aim of this chapter is to present the processes and procedures employed in collecting and analysing the quantitative data. In the first research phase of this study a new context-specific multidimensional model of service quality for DE student support services was proposed. This quantitative study was designed and conducted to collect and analyse service quality students’ expectations and their perceptions; analyse the gaps between students’ expectations of their support services and their perceptions; and validate the proposed model. In order to achieve these objectives, statistical evidence from a sample of Unisa students was gathered. This chapter discusses and presents the processes and procedures followed in conducting the quantitative research and reporting the results.
First to be presented is the methodological approach employed when conducting the research. Secondly, the steps followed in the development of the questionnaire are explained. Thirdly, sampling procedures are discussed. Fourthly, the data collection processes are discussed; and lastly procedures used to analyse the data are presented.