A study on education quality using the Taguchi method

Abstract

This article introduces a case study using the Taguchi method to improve education quality. Developed by Taguchi Genichi, this method has its strength in finding the control factor that is robust against other nuisance factors. Finding the condition for such a control factor has an effect of reducing the dispersion of the results. Various forms of noise exist in university classrooms. Multiple factors such as the psychology of the students and the instructor can have an effect on education quality but are often neglected in current teaching standards. The Taguchi method, which has successfully been implemented in manufacturing, can also be applied in education settings to provide better lectures (of higher quality) to students (customers). Hence this article introduces a methodology to improve lecture quality by using the Taguchi method in education settings and discusses a case study for it. The study analyses the factors that affect lecture quality and distinguishes between the control factor that is controllable by the instructor and the nuisance factor that is not controllable but is important in terms of lecture quality. Then the experiment is conducted as guided by Taguchi's experimental design, and after discussion of the results the optimal lecture method is suggested. The difficulty with the approach lies in defining and measuring lecture quality and conducting the experiment under settings with various factors. A suggestion regarding this difficulty is discussed. However, this difficulty still raises a question. The contribution of this article is the discussion of the possibility of implementing the Taguchi method – traditionally used in manufacturing – in university lectures, which can be considered a form of service provided to the students, and offering Taguchi's optimum result as a solution to a practical problem.

Keywords:

• Taguchi method
• lecture quality
• university lectures
• implementing Taguchi method
• service Taguchi method

Acknowledgement

This research was supported by Seokyeong University in 2012 and also supported by Kangnam University.