Construction and Validation of an Instrument to Measure the Quality of Academic Services to Students

The quality of academic services provided to students in higher education is a major concern for practitioners. Now definition, conceptualization and specifying components of service quality have both theoretical and methodological uncertainty. The root of many of these confusions and complexities is associated to lack of appropriate tools to measure. Providing a reliable and valid instrument for measuring quality of service is a necessary step in quality services. The main purpose of this research was to construct a valid and reliable instrument to measure quality academic services to students. The study population included University of Tehran’ students (undergraduate and postgraduate) that were enrolled in the second semester of 2010-11 academic year. The sample consisted of 290 participants who were randomly assigned to two groups of 145 each. Preliminary and exploratory analysis was conducted for first sample and validation and verification for second one. The final instrument consisted of 45 questions and six factors of electronics services, communication, physical environment, education services, libraries and benefits. Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the instrument underlying factors calculated 0.88 to 0.92. Internal consistency, item reliability and composite reliability were used to assess reliability. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, convergent and discriminant validity for factors were assessed. The result of this analysis confirmed reliability and validity of the tool and its underlying factors.