Panels » The Future Panel » FAQs

How are panellists recruited?

Panellists are recruited through a collaboration with UCAS. UCAS send an invite to all members of their Applicant and Pre-Applicant Databases (who have agreed to be sent emails from UCAS on behalf of third parties - approximately 70% of database).

How do you stop ‘professional respondents’ and ’compers’ from joining the panel?

Only members of the UCAS Applicant Database and Pre-applicant Database will be able to join the panel. Email invites sent by UCAS will include a unique link to the panel’s joining questionnaire. It will not be possible for panellists to join more than once through this link or to forward the invite to others to respond after they have joined.

Is the panel representative of prospective university students?

The UCAS Applicant Database will be used to check whether applicants on The Future Panel are representative of the overall population of applicants. Any bias in the sample will be corrected through weighting the data against the known population.

The UCAS Pre-Applicant Database only includes those year 12 students who have applied for a UCAS card and therefore is not an accurate reflection of all members of the population who are considering applying to university within the succeeding 12 months.

The true size and composition of the pre-applicant population is unknown - however, through answers provided by panellists to the joining questionnaire, we are confident that the panel includes members with a range of personal and educational backgrounds and attitudes towards going into HE. Through this information it will be possible to create sample cells to ensure that any research undertaken does not use a biased group of respondents.

The pre-applicant panel can also be made representative of the UK undergraduate population.

What is the profile of The Future Panel?

Upon joining The Future Panel, members complete a joining questionnaire which collects a huge amount of information about their current education, plans for future studies and career preferences, attitudes towards higher education and demographic characteristics.

For a full listing of the panel profile click here.