How We Research and Check Listings

This page explains where the facts on Trades Directory come from, what the dates and labels on a listing mean, and how listings are kept current. Paul Trotter, the editor, sets these rules and decides each release to the live site.

Which sources we use

Each kind of fact comes from the organization responsible for it:

• Licensing requirements: the state or local licensing board or agency, and the laws and rules it administers.
• Schools: the school's own program, catalog, admissions and tuition pages. Accreditation is checked in the accreditor's own directory. When a school publishes no cost or program length, we may use the figures it reports to the U.S. Department of Education through College Navigator, and a cost note names the source and its year.
• Apprenticeships: the program's or sponsor's own pages, and federal or state apprenticeship registries for registration.
• Salary and job-outlook pages: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, mainly its Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS).
• Books, courses, channels and communities: the publisher's or operator's own pages.

A program's written answer to our questions can also support a fact about its own offering, such as an application window or starting wage, when the program agrees to be quoted. The listing marks that fact "Confirmed by the program by email" with the date. An answer from a program never overrides a fact that a regulator, registry or accreditor decides.

Search results, comparison and affiliate sites, other directories and AI-generated summaries can point us to a source, but they are never the source of a fact. When official sources disagree, we use the one responsible for that fact, show both, or leave the fact out; we never pick one silently. When no official source supports a fact, we leave it out or say it is not confirmed.

What the dates mean

Information checked is the date we last checked the listing's key facts against their sources. We move it only when those facts were actually re-checked, not when a page was merely edited or reloaded. Some facts carry their own date, such as a cost note's "checked" date or a wage's effective date, because they change more often than the rest of the listing.

Each researched fact cites a saved copy of its source page. Before a listing's checked date moves, our tools confirm that the quoted source text appears in a fresh copy of that page.

What the labels mean

• No label: the listing passed every check for its type: exact program identity, official sources for each key fact, and no contradictions between them. This is a check of the information, not an endorsement of the program.
• Basic listing: the listing links to an official page, but we have not confirmed all of its key facts. Confirm details with the provider.
• Information incomplete: a fact you need to decide, such as the credential, length or location, is missing or unconfirmed. Confirm it before you enroll or apply.
• Check current …: a fact that changes often has no recent dated check. Application status is flagged after 90 days unless a posted application window covers it, and costs and wages after 12 months (wages count from the date the pay scale took effect, and are flagged the day after a pay scale's own stated end date).
• Not confirmed in our records: we have no sourced, dated value for this fact, so we don't state it.

How AI is used

We use AI tools for much of the research legwork. They find the official sources, pull the key facts out of them, write first drafts of listing text, and look for mistakes and contradictions.

The AI's work is checked before it reaches the site. Every fact has to point to a saved copy of the official page it came from, so anyone can trace where it came from. A second AI tool reviews each change to a listing's facts. That tool had no part in writing the change, and a set of automated checks must also pass. Paul Trotter doesn't personally re-check every fact, but he sets the research rules and decides each release.

How often listings are re-checked

Schools, apprenticeships, licensing pages and license reciprocity are due for a full re-check every 6 months. Salary pages, guides and learning resources are due every 12 months. A listing is re-checked sooner when someone reports a problem or we find that a source has changed. Where a page shows an "Information checked" date, it shows when that last happened.

Corrections

See the corrections policy for how to report an error and how corrections are made.