Survey of service quality gap from the viewpoint of paramedicine students in Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, 2010

Service quality gap represents service quality as the discrepancy between customers’ expectations for a service offering and the customers’ perceptions of the service received. A major step in surveying this gap is to identify the customers’ perceptions and expectations. Utilizing clients’ perceptions and expectations, this study was performed to assess service quality gap from the viewpoint of Paramedicine students in Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences. 140 students from Faculty of Paramedicine were randomly selected in this descriptive study. The standard SERVQUAL questionnaire divided into individual needs and service quality specifications was used for data collection. Data were analyzed utilizing SPSS 17.0 and using descriptive statistics including paired T-test. Findings revealed quality gaps in all educational service quality specifications and the phrases measuring them. The highest average of quality gap was observed in tangibles (-1.34) and the lowest average belonged to assurance (-1.16). There were quality gaps in all 5 constructs, implying that students’ expectations are not satisfied. These gaps can bear negative consequences for students’ learning. It is therefore recommended that, for disbursing funds, executives give primary importance to the aspects marked with the highest gaps. It is also recommended to make plans and hold educational workshops to enhance the provision of services and communicative skills among the staff.