La valutazione della qualità dei servizi scolastici: un'applicazione del Q-sort al metodo Servqual

This study aims at valuating the school services quality. To this end, a questionnaire, derived from Servqual method (Parasuraman, Berry & Zeithaml, 1991), was constructed and adapted for this research. The questionnaire is composed of three sections that explore the real perceptions of the enjoyed services, the expectations of the users and the importance given to the single dimensions of the quality; to point out the expectations, it uses a scale based on Q-sort methodology (Stephenson, 1953), briefly described together with the main fields of its utilization in the research. Applying this methodology, we intend to limit the natural tendency of the individuals to give the maximum value to their expectations, so determining an excessive deviation from the real valuations (De Carlo & Robusto, 2000). 640 individuals ― parents, teachers and auxiliary staff of infant and nursery schools of the Municipality of Padua ― were involved in this research. The results allowed to determine the dimensions that are considered the most important in the valuation of the perceived quality of the school services: they concern the “efficacy/ability of answer” and the “competence of the teaching staff and of the management”.