What’s going on? A new approach to identifying the dynamics of student satisfaction in higher education.
Satisfaction surveys are limited in their scope as they do not provide information on how satisfaction can be improved. The context of this study is based on the fact that Imperial College Physics Department’s NSS scores from recent years have not been good. A multitude of factors impact and shape an undergraduate student body’s experience within the department they are a part of. Not all factors impact the student experience in the same way and the interplay can make it difficult to identify the root issues – it is not always obvious where one should start to improve satisfaction.
This research has implemented the Kano model, taken from the field of economics, to create a methodology that leverages disciplinary-recognised modes of communication, namely graph sketching, so that we can identify and classify the dynamics of factors relevant to student satisfaction. Here, dynamics refers to the need to not just survey for point-like information on current satisfaction but to determine the functional form of the satisfaction vs. resource provision curve. By understanding the nature of the curve in a given context, we can identify where resources can best be allocated. In this presentation, I will report on the initial findings from this research, highlighting both the novel methodology as well as potential implications for the department.