Development of an instrument to assess student perceptions of the quality of pharmaceutical education

This paper describes a study that develops and tests a quality measure of pharmaceutical education. A 41-item instrument was created to assess educational service quality, defined as student perceptions of school service performance. The instrument assessed both perceptions of educational process (functional quality) and outcome (technical quality). Eighty-five fourth year pharmacy students evaluated four dimensions of educational quality; school learning resources, faculty performance, administration performance, and student perceptions of intellectual progress. Validity and reliability of the scale were demonstrated. Regression analyses showed the instrument explained 70 percent of School satisfaction, 49 percent of School commitment, and 39 percent of perceived educational value. Stepwise linear regression analyses of sub-scales demonstrated that perceptions of technical quality had greater impact on satisfaction, commitment, and value, while functional quality provided a small but significant effect. Further research is necessary to explore how service quality assessments vary over time and in different situations.