In a project led by Michael Grugan, we examined the structure of the National Student Survey (NSS). This is a measure which is offered to all students in their final year of undergraduate studies. We obtained the raw data via a freedom of information request. We made these data public https://osf.io/g3umw/. It is quite surprising that the raw data is not posted, only the NSS aggregates.
The paper has all the details but we found that the best structure supports six rather than seven themes. In addition, there were items which we suggest could be removed. Next, we found approximate invariance for the Russell Group, i.e. a group of leading universities. This means we can compare. These rankings are better grounded than relying on simple averages based on NSS themes. Let’s see what the reviewers think!