Student feedback analysis glossary for UK HE
Published Jan 27, 2026 · Updated Jan 27, 2026
Answer first
This glossary defines the most common terms used in UK higher education free‑text analysis so your stakeholders (QA, Insights, faculties, SU) interpret results the same way. For a decision guide, see Best NSS comment analysis (2025).
Glossary
All-comment coverage
Analysing every usable comment (not a sample), with documented handling for blanks, duplicates, and privacy constraints.
Benchmarking (sector benchmark)
Comparing results to an external reference set (e.g., sector-wide distributions) so you can identify what is distinctive vs typical—ideally like-for-like by discipline and cohort mix.
CAH / CAH3
Common Aggregation Hierarchy (CAH) subject coding used to group programmes/subjects. CAH3 is a more granular level used for discipline-level cuts.
Categorisation (topic classification)
Assigning comments to defined topics (e.g., “assessment methods”, “timetabling”). Defensible categorisation is repeatable, documented, and QA’d.
Coding (manual coding)
Human assignment of themes/categories to comments. Valuable for small studies, but time-consuming and prone to coder drift without strong protocols.
Cohort mix (composition)
The distribution of students/comments across disciplines and demographic/structural segments. Changes in cohort mix can change results even if experience stays constant.
Governance pack
A documented set of materials that support auditability: data pathways, redaction rules, versioning, QA steps, and reporting caveats for panels.
Redaction
Removing personal data or identifiers from text to reduce privacy risk and enable wider sharing of outputs.
Reproducibility (repeatability)
Being able to re-run the same analysis and get the same outputs (or explain differences via versioning/change logs).
Sentiment index
A summarised measure of positivity vs negativity (often scaled −100 to +100). Useful as a signal, not a substitute for topic evidence and QA.
Taxonomy
A structured, maintained set of categories with definitions and change control. In HE, a taxonomy often maps to common experience areas (teaching, assessment, support, resources, etc.).
Next steps
- For a governed approach to open-text analysis, see Student Voice Analytics.
- If you’re evaluating generic LLM workflows, read Student Voice Analytics vs generic LLMs.
Briefing kit
Download the Student Voice Analytics briefing pack
Share a two-page summary of our comment analytics stack with procurement, governance, and insights teams.
- Covers NSS, PTES, PRES, UKES, module evaluations.
- Explains benchmarks, taxonomy, and reproducibility.
- Includes procurement checklist prompts.