Journalism students at the University of Sheffield devised a unique experiment to demonstrate the differences between the Alternative Vote (AV) and the traditional First Past the Post (FPTP) system.

Using the example of voting for favourite bands, the students held a poll among their colleagues.

Students were asked to vote twice – once placing a simple ‘x’ against the name of their favourite Sheffield band, and then a second time on a separate ballot paper, but this time ranking the bands in order of preference, 1, 2, 3 etc.

The choices were the Human League, Pulp, Arctic Monkeys, Richard Hawley, Def Leppard and Joe Cocker.

The results showed how the two different systems could produce widely differing results.

Under the FPTP system, the Arctic Monkeys were the clear winners, but with only 30% of the vote.

But when second choices were added up under the AV system, Pulp were the winners.

Video by Emma Wass and Arya Yuyutsu.