Tertiary student satisfaction with socialization: A statistical assessment

Abstract

A careful evaluation of student satisfaction is central for tertiary education institutions because help them to pinpoint their strengths and identify areas for improvement. University student satisfaction is not directly measurable because it depends upon many different aspects. It may be studied through a composite indicator based on other variables (partial indicators) that are directly observed. In this paper we consider student socialization which is an important aspect of students’ educational experience even if it is not as widely considered as assessments of skills development and ratings of various aspects of courses and programs. More precisely we consider student relations with the other people that act within the university context: teachers, teacher assistants, non teaching staff, other students, citizens of the town that hosts the university. To grasp the complexity of university experience, it is not enough to know the degree to which students are satisfied, it is important to understand the factors that contribute to student satisfaction. To this end we propose a simple algorithm to find the most important partial aspects underlying the student satisfaction socialization issue. An application to students of the University of Padova is discussed. The method is compared to PCA, and it is shown that is much simpler to be used, requires milder assumptions and is always readily comprehended.