Confirmability

Confirmability is a criterion of trustworthiness in qualitative research that refers to the extent to which the findings could be confirmed by others given the data and the analytical process. It implies that the conclusions are shaped by the participants’ experiences and the evidence collected, rather than by the researcher’s personal biases or theoretical preconceptions. In the framework developed by Lincoln and Guba, confirmability complements credibility, transferability, and dependability as a standard for rigor in qualitative inquiry. It does not claim objectivity in the positivist sense, but supports a transparent and auditable account of how interpretations were derived from the data.

Researchers pursue confirmability through methodological and reflexive practices that document how data lead to conclusions. Common strategies include maintaining an audit trail that records data collection steps, coding decisions, memoing, and analytic deliberations; providing access to core data such as transcripts and coding schemes; and using triangulation to compare findings across sources, methods, or investigators. An external audit, by a researcher or reviewer not involved in the study, can examine the audit trail and assess whether the conclusions are grounded in the data. Thick description and explicit linkages between data extracts and interpretations also aid confirmability.

Limitations exist; confirmability cannot eliminate all bias, and interpretations always involve some level of subjectivity. Nevertheless, by enhancing transparency and systematic documentation, researchers can allow others to judge whether the evidence supports the reported conclusions.