Structured surveys and audience polls are not the same thing
Keeping the formats separate makes it easier for readers, search engines and journalists to understand what each result can support.
Original Unifresher research
A planned questionnaire with a defined recruitment route, achieved sample, fieldwork period, multiple questions and deeper analysis. The 2026 Student Experience Survey was fielded through Pollfish with 500 UK respondents recorded as students.
First-party Unifresher audience insight
Quick questions put directly to the Unifresher Instagram audience. Polls publish the exact response total, collection date, raw counts and a clear statement that the result is indicative rather than representative of all UK students.
From questionnaire to published finding
The 2026 survey uses a transparent chain from the original response to the final public claim.
Design
Unifresher defines the research questions, exact wording and answer formats.
Fieldwork
Responses are collected through the documented recruitment route and time period.
QA and coding
Counts are reconciled, open-text answers are coded, derived measures are documented and problematic fields are held back.
Publish
Results appear with counts, bases, wording, methodology, limitations, citation guidance and licensing.
How the Student Experience Survey is reported
The reporting decisions behind the live results are made explicit rather than hidden in a footnote.
- Primary series
- Raw responses from the achieved 500-respondent sample.
- Multi-select questions
- Percentages can add to more than 100%. Derived combinations are only used when the combined answer options are stated.
- Open-text Q2
- Practical-skill answers are editorially coded into multiple themes. A single response can contribute to more than one theme.
- Open-text Q13
- Financial-coping answers use multi-label thematic coding with additional care around food deprivation and other sensitive responses. Results are published in aggregate.
- Accommodation cost Q3
- Mixed weekly, monthly, annual and non-applicable entries are being normalised before a hard cost figure is published. The question is deliberately excluded from current headline statistics.
- Cross-question analysis
- Differences between groups are described as associations within the achieved sample. They are not presented as causal effects.
- Sensitive topics
- Loneliness, mental health, food deprivation and social pressure are reported using the wording the questionnaire actually measured, without diagnosis or sensationalism.
How ongoing audience polls are published
Polls are deliberately lighter-weight than the structured survey, but they still publish enough information for the result to be checked.
Exact sample
The response count is stated, not implied.
Collection date
The fieldwork date stays attached to the finding.
Raw counts
Percentages are backed by the original answer totals.
Indicative label
Poll results are not described as representative of all UK students.
Research should remain checkable after publication
Possible data issues can be sent to editorial@unifresher.co.uk. Media and reuse questions can be sent to press@unifresher.co.uk.