From FAQ to data: Linking information to research

Faculty at land-grant universities who engage in outreach work often assert that the difference between their work and that of other professionals engaged in offering solutions to issues, is that their work is built on research evidence.

In online presentations it is increasingly possible to provide a demonstration of those connections. For example, Here are three links from a website, MissouriFamilies.org developed at the University of Missouri:

Here is a link to an answer to a FAQ: What is the divorce rate in the United States?

http://missourifamilies.org/quick/divorceqa/divorceqa3.htm

At the conclusion of this short answer is a link to a longer document that explains more about the pattern of divorce in the United States. Here is that link:

http://missourifamilies.org/features/divorcearticles/divorcefeature17.htm

In this article, there are links to specific U.S. Census documents that present the governments official population records. In this case, an interested reader can follow the evidence trail from the short answer to the data. In this way the reader, if interested, can determine whether the answers presented were reasonable and match the data.