NguyenNgocUyenPhuong TV pdf AN INVESTIGATION OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION WITH THE ENGLISH TAUGHT PROJECT A CASE STUDY OF A PUBLIC UNIVERSITY IN VIETNAM by Nguyen Ngoc Uyen Phuong A dissertation submitted[.]
AN INVESTIGATION OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION WITH THE ENGLISH-TAUGHT PROJECT - A CASE STUDY OF A PUBLIC UNIVERSITY IN VIETNAM by Nguyen Ngoc Uyen Phuong A dissertation submitted to Coventry University for the degree of Master of Engineering Project Management in Faculty of Engineering and Computing Coventry University 2014 AN INVESTIGATION OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION WITH THE ENGLISH-TAUGHT PROJECT DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY This project is all my own work and has not been copied in part or in whole from any other source except where duly acknowledged As such, all use of previously published work (from books, journals, magazines, internet, etc) has been acknowledged within the main report to an item in the References or Bibliography lists I also agree that an electronic copy of this project may be stored and used for the purposes of plagiarism prevention and detection Copyright Acknowledgement I acknowledge that the copyright of this project and report belongs to Coventry University Signed: Nguyen Ngoc Uyen Phuong Date: August 17th, 2014 Office Stamp Nguyen Ngoc Uyen Phuong SID 5312104 Page AN INVESTIGATION OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION WITH THE ENGLISH-TAUGHT PROJECT ABSTRACT In order to make education projects succeed, project managers usually concern about how to make students, who are also customers of education projects, satisfied with what the projects provide Student satisfaction is a common topic that many researchers implemented their studies to identify the importance of this concept in education Nevertheless, language acquisition is quite scarce in education researches but it is really a large problem in international education This fact lays the foundation for this current research to evaluate student satisfaction with the English-taught project, the case study of the University of Danang-University of Economics (UD-UE) in Vietnam, where English is not the native language In this study, literature review of project, project success, higher education, student satisfaction in the international context is implemented before the semistructured interview and the survey using questionnaire are conducted in the Englishtaught project at UD-UE This research gives three main findings: determining factors affecting student satisfaction with the project, assessing the level of the effect of these factors and giving some recommendations for student satisfaction for project success There are many results suitable to some other previous researches but other results expose the common paradox in Vietnamese education which is students’ dependent learning approach The recommendations in the end of this study will be some suggested solutions to overcome problems of the project which are found from the collected data In addition, problems of the English-taught project and limitations of the research will suggest further research with a larger scope Key words: project, education project, project success, customer satisfaction, student satisfaction, international education Nguyen Ngoc Uyen Phuong SID 5312104 Page AN INVESTIGATION OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION WITH THE ENGLISH-TAUGHT PROJECT ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It is a great honor for me to thank all the people who give me support, assistance and positive encouragement in performing and finishing this dissertation Firstly, I would like to show my deep gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Xue Zhou, for her guidance during the time of my research This study cannot be possible without her instructions and enthusiasm Secondly, I would like to thank Dr Anthony Olomolaiye, the director of MSc of Engineering Project Management program He was the person who has inspired my love of Project Management as well as gave me encouragement and directions of Project Management for my dissertation I am also thankful to Dr Mark Hooper, Dr Philip Southey, Dr Owen Richards, Dr Richard Anderson, Dr Ian Wilson, Dr Phillip Lewis, Miss Lydia Adigun, Miss Stella-Maris Orim, Miss Magdalena RybakAdamczewska and all other professors and tutors in my course who gave me interesting knowledge related to my course and laid the foundation for me to finish my dissertation Thirdly, I highly appreciate my friend, Mr Le Minh Thanh, who is a good translator for the questionnaire and data in the research as well as Mr Nguyen Van Long and Miss Tran Thi Hang, who always encouraged me and gave me many useful advices during the dissertation process Furthermore, I love to thank Miss Le Thanh Thuy, Mr Le Minh Thanh and Miss Ho Ngoc Chi who are always on my side during the whole of my time in Coventry In addition, I would like to thank my colleagues and students in the University of Danang-University of Economics, especially in Department of Business Administration, in Vietnam Lastly, I am so grateful to my grandmother, my parents, my younger brother and sister and all members of my family who gave me the spirits to complete my course in Coventry and in the long journey in my life Nguyen Ngoc Uyen Phuong SID 5312104 Page AN INVESTIGATION OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION WITH THE ENGLISH-TAUGHT PROJECT TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY ABSTRACT .2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS CHAPTER - INTRODUCTION 1.1 BACKGROUND 1.2 THE RESEARCH’S AIM AND OBJECTIVES 1.2.1 Aim .9 1.2.2 Objectives 10 1.3 THE RESEARCHED FIRST FOUR-YEAR PROJECT TAUGHT BY ENGLISH 11 1.4 THE STRUCTURE OF THE RESEARCH .11 1.4.1 Chapter one - Introduction 11 1.4.2 Chapter two – Literature review 12 1.4.3 Chapter three – Research methodology .12 1.4.4 Chapter four – Data analysis and discussion .12 1.4.5 Chapter five – Conclusions and recommendations 12 CHAPTER - LITERATURE REVIEW 15 2.1 INTRODUCTION .15 2.2 PROJECTS AND EDUCATION PROJECTS 16 2.2.1 Project definition 16 2.2.2 Education projects .17 2.3 EDUCATION PROJECTS SCOPE 18 2.3.1 Education 18 2.3.2 Higher education 20 2.3.3 Activities in total student experiences 21 2.3.3.1 Teaching, learning and assessment 21 2.3.3.2 Support activities 21 2.3.4 Higher education in the international context and the scope of the Englishtaught project in UD-UE 22 2.3.4.1 Higher education in the international context 22 Nguyen Ngoc Uyen Phuong SID 5312104 Page AN INVESTIGATION OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION WITH THE ENGLISH-TAUGHT PROJECT 2.3.4.2 The scope of the English-taught project in UD-UE 23 2.4 PROJECT SUCCESS AND CUSTOMER SATISFACTION 24 2.4.1 Project success 24 2.4.2 Customer satisfaction in general perspectives .25 2.4.3 Customer satisfaction in education perspectives 26 2.4.3.1 The definition of student satisfaction 26 2.4.3.2 The importance of student satisfaction 26 2.4.3.3 Student satisfaction evaluation models 27 2.4.3.4 Student satisfaction in the international context 31 2.5 PROBLEMS IN HIGHER EDUCATION IN VIETNAM AND RISK MANAGEMENT OF THE ENGLISH-TAUGHT PROJECT .32 2.5.1 Problems in higher education in Vietnam 32 2.5.2 Risk management of the English-taught project 33 2.6 SOME FACTORS AFFECTING STUDENT SATISFACTION .34 2.7 CONCLUSION 36 CHAPTER – RESEARCH METHODOLOGY .37 3.1 INTRODUCTION .37 3.2 RESEARCH OVERVIEW 37 3.2.1 Research approach .38 3.2.2 Research methodology 39 3.2.3 Research strategy .41 3.2.4 Data collection 42 3.3 QUESTIONNAIRE 44 3.3.1 Questionnaire design 44 3.3.2 Potential difficulties 46 3.4 DATA ANALYSIS 46 3.4.1 Validity of data collected 46 3.4.2 Reliability of data collected 48 3.4.3 One-way ANOVA .49 3.4.4 Factor analysis .50 3.4.5 Correlation and linear regression analysis 51 Nguyen Ngoc Uyen Phuong SID 5312104 Page AN INVESTIGATION OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION WITH THE ENGLISH-TAUGHT PROJECT 3.4.5.1 Correlation analysis .51 3.4.5.2 Regression analysis 51 3.5 CONCLUSION 52 CHAPTER – DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 54 4.1 INTRODUCTION .54 4.2 RESULTS 54 4.2.1 Results from the semi-structured interview 54 4.2.2 Descriptive information about respondents and Cronbach’s alpha reliability …………………………………………………………………………… 55 4.2.3 Mean value of student satisfaction level and important level with all independent variables and the overall project 56 4.2.4 Findings from one-way ANOVA of all independent variables and the dependent variable 56 4.2.5 Factor analysis of all independent variables 57 4.2.6 The correlation and regression analysis of new factors and the dependent variable …………………………………………………………………………… 57 4.2.7 The regression analysis of all independent variables in each factor 58 4.3 DISCUSSION 59 4.3.1 Factors affecting student satisfaction with the English-taught project in UDUE……………… 59 4.3.2 The relationships among factors and overall student satisfaction 60 4.3.3 Students’ points of view and items provided by the English-taught project 62 4.3.3.1 Students’ perspectives 62 4.3.3.2 Items provided by the English-taught project .63 4.4 CONCLUSION 65 CHAPTER – CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS .67 5.1 OVERVIEW 67 5.2 SUMMARY OF FINDINGS AND CRITICAL REFLECTIONS .67 5.2.1 Research objective 68 5.2.2 Research objective 69 5.2.3 Research objective and 70 5.2.4 Research objective 71 Nguyen Ngoc Uyen Phuong SID 5312104 Page AN INVESTIGATION OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION WITH THE ENGLISH-TAUGHT PROJECT 5.3 IMPLICATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 71 5.3.1 Implications 71 5.3.2 Recommendations .72 5.4 CONTRIBUTIONS 74 5.5 LIMITATIONS 74 5.6 FURTHER RESEARCH 75 REFERENCES 77 APPENDICES 88 Appendix 1: Profile of sample 88 Appendix 2: Mean value of student satisfaction and important level with all items and the overall project 88 Appendix 3: Description of One-way ANOVA of all independent variables and the dependent variable in satisfaction level 91 Appendix 4: Factor analysis 96 Appendix 5: Correlation matrix for factors and dependent variable 100 Appendix 6: Regression analysis for factors and dependent variable 100 Appendix 7: Regression analysis for independent variables in each new factor and dependent variable 100 LIST OF FIGURES Figure – ServQual model (Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry 1985) 28 Figure – Kano model (Bilgilia, Ercis and Ünal 2011) .30 Figure – Research process .38 Figure – Model of Herzberg’s two-factor theory for student satisfaction 60 Nguyen Ngoc Uyen Phuong SID 5312104 Page