Study on the most appropriate scale for use in questionnaires: an experiment with Kano’s model

Abstract

This paper presents a comparative study of three questionnaires of different levels. The objective of this paper is to determine which questionnaire is most adequate for measuring service quality at a university library in the municipality of Campos dos Goytacazes. The data collection consisted in the application of three kinds of questionnaires of different answer levels (2 levels, 4 levels, and 6 levels) with the same 22 pairs of functional and dysfunctional questions. The questionnaires follow Kano’s model. The use of this model allows the classification of attributes in as much as 6 categories (qualities): must-be, one-dimensional, attractive, indifferent, reverse, and questionable. To verify which scale is the most reliable, Cronback’s Alpha statistic method was used. Questionnaires will be more reliable as the most adequate scale can be found. The conclusion is that the classification of attributes of quality is different for each level of answer used in the questionnaires. Consistent with Cronback’s Alpha, the use of questionnaires with 6 levels of answer is recommended, since it presents high reliability in the results. With the classification of attributes, the library coordination will be able to invest in really relevant attributes to increase the user satisfaction.

Keywords

• Attractive quality. Quality management. Kano’s model. Cronbach’s Alpha.