The Fire Science Online Methodology
Fire Science Online strives to provide fire science students and other first responders with they information they need about the many facets of an education in these fields. We realize that, in order to maximize our effectiveness, we must use the best possible source data. This is why we use only the most trusted data from government-backed sources.
Because we receive so many request for the images used on our site, we have included the badge shown on all of our lists, here:
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Our Data Sources
Fire Science Online makes use of four primary sources of data:
- NCES is the primary federal entity for collecting and analyzing data related to education. It provides consistent, reliable, complete, and accurate indicators of education status and trends.
- IPEDS is the primary federal source for data on colleges, universities, and technical and vocational postsecondary schools in the U.S.
- Carnegie Classification is a framework widely used in the study of higher education, both as a way to represent and control for institutional differences, and also in the design of research studies to ensure adequate representation of sampled institutions, students, or faculty.
- Payscale.com is a leading provider of career-related data on a national, state, local, and individual basis. PayScale’s team of statisticians continually refines data collection methods to maximize accuracy and integrity.
Methodology for the 100 Colleges Where Graduates Save Lives
We reviewed nearly 2,500 colleges and universities to find those that offered the most first response programs, provided they met these criteria:
- Fully-accredited schools only
- Public and private schools included
- Two- and four-year schools included
- U.S. colleges only