Confirmable

Confirmable is an adjective meaning capable of being confirmed; supported by evidence, verifiable, or capable of replication or corroboration. In scientific and scholarly writing, the term emphasizes that a claim or finding is not merely asserted but can be checked against data, observations, or independent analysis.

Within qualitative research, confirmability is one of the trustworthiness criteria proposed by researchers Lincoln and Guba (1985). It refers to the degree to which the study's findings could be confirmed by others and are shaped by the participants and the data rather than by the researcher’s biases or preferences. Researchers enhance confirmability through audit trails, reflexive journaling, transparent documentation of data collection and analysis procedures, triangulation, and, when possible, external audits of the data and coding.

Outside qualitative research, the term is often used in a broader sense to describe the reproducibility or verifiability of results in the sciences. A confirmable result is one that can be independently reproduced or validated by other researchers using the same data and methods or with the same observational basis. In statistics and experimental science, emphasis is placed on replicability and reproducibility as practical manifestations of confirmability.

Limitations and nuances: some claims are only conditionally confirmable under certain assumptions, methodologies, or contexts; not all studies permit complete external verification, and confirmability does not guarantee truth, only testability and openness to verification. The concept is closely related to verifiability, corroboration, and falsifiability.

In summary, confirmable describes the degree to which claims in research can be independently checked and supported by evidence, data, and analysis, remaining a cornerstone of transparent and rigorous inquiry.