Corroborate
Strengthen a claim or account with additional supporting evidence.
Useful when you need evidence beyond a single report or an agent's assertion.
“Corroborate this report's main claims with independent evidence. Cite what supports each claim and flag any gaps or contradictions.”
A closer look
If a customer reports an outage at noon, monitoring records showing failed requests at that time can corroborate their account. The records add support; they do not establish every detail or explain the cause. For research, trace supporting reports to their original evidence: three articles repeating one press release still rely on one source. Seek relevant, credible evidence gathered independently, and report evidence that conflicts with the claim as well as evidence that supports it. If you find no additional support, say the claim is uncorroborated; that alone does not make it false.
Put it to work
“Check whether the server logs corroborate the customer's outage timeline, and distinguish observed failures from guesses about their cause.”
“Look for independently collected data that corroborates the survey's finding, and check whether it concerns the same population and time period.”
A useful distinction
Corroboration adds support; it does not guarantee proof. Repetition of the same source is not independent confirmation. Seeking only agreement while ignoring conflicting evidence risks confirmation bias.