The purpose of this dissertation is to develop an instrument to measure the quality, quality changes and the efficiency of a service system with dependency loops on an ongoing basis in order to provide timely feedback for decision-makers and to set the basis for a continuous improvement cycle. This instrument is developed using an engineering educational system as the prime example.
The first outcome has been a data driven Strengths and Weakness (SW) analysis. It consists of four steps - data collection, data summarization, display of proportions (data aggregated into positive, neutral and negative perceptions), and the construction of a SW table by using a set of heuristic rules that reflects the decision-maker's desired level of sensitivity for the methodology. The core of the method resides in selecting the category with the largest proportion for a finite population where each element is classified into exactly one of k mutually exclusive categories. The heuristic rules used for classification are justified using the concepts of statistical ranking and selection procedures.
Applications of the SW table in cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses are given. Special graphs, e.g. the one-dimensional and two-dimensional arrows that help the analysis have been constructed so as to provide aid to the decision makers in the engineering educational system.
The second outcome provides a scheme for the evaluation of the relative efficiency of processes within this type of service system. Data Envelopment Analysis has been used iteratively to evaluate the efficiency of levels and programs within an engineering educational service system. This is used to chart the changes in students' perceptions as they progress during their career from the freshmen to the senior level.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PITT/oai:PITTETD:etd-08162002-063129 |
| Date | 30 August 2002 |
| Creators | Perez, Graciela de Lujan |
| Contributors | Mainak Mazumdar, Kim La Scola Needy, Jayant Rajgopal, Pandu Tadikamalla |
| Publisher | University of Pittsburgh |
| Source Sets | University of Pittsburgh |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.pitt.edu:80/ETD/available/etd-08162002-063129/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Pittsburgh or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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