Transparent by design
Methodology
TradeField Scout favors faithful source representation over complete-looking profiles. Unknown values remain unknown, and field-of-study facts are not promoted to claims about exact school offerings.
Unit of comparison
Each row is a unique institution (UNITID), four-digit Classification of Instructional Programs code, and credential level. It is a reported field-of-study record—not an exact advertised course or program.
Trade classification
TradeField Scout uses a versioned allowlist: CIP 4603 for electrical and power transmission installers, 4702 for HVAC/R maintenance technology, and 4805 for precision metal working including welding. Credential levels are limited to undergraduate certificates/diplomas and associate degrees.
Metro assignment
The current official API candidates were discovered within 75 miles of one representative ZIP code per market, then filtered to official July 2023 Census CBSA membership using geocoded county FIPS and OMB Bulletin 23-01 delineations. Nearby institutions outside the target CBSA are excluded.
Minimum useful profile
A record needs institution identity, usable location, safe official website, supported CIP and credential, at least one nonzero recent IPEDS award signal, and complete source provenance. Missing earnings do not disqualify a record because small cohorts are frequently suppressed.
Metric scope
Completion counts and earnings displayed on a row are program-field metrics. Institution-wide net price and completion-rate fields have a separate institution scope. The preserved responses did not retrieve those institution fields, so the site explicitly displays Not retrieved.
Publication eligibility
A metro/trade comparison needs at least eight accepted records, three institutions, 75% useful profiles, two comparable fields beyond identity/location, supported intent, and a unique summary. Nine combinations currently qualify; the other six remain unpublished/noindex.
No ranking
Sorting by name or completion count is a view control, not a quality judgment. The site never combines differently scoped or differently dated values into a score, recommendation, or best-school label.