The word 'corroborate' refers to the act of verifying a situation, fact, event or phenomenon through the use of different types of evidence. The act of corroborating something means providing that evidence, which must be suitable, to verify that a certain event or fact happened in a specific way.
Check, confirm facts through evidence
It is the confirmation of a fact, a saying or a circumstance, generally to third parties, with the intention of ratifying, confirming any question that was questioned. With the corroboration, what you try to do is clear up all kinds of doubts; With new data or with arguments, an opinion or a theory that had been questioned will be supported.
Meanwhile, it is a term that can be used in countless contexts and situations in which the objective of clarifying an issue is precisely sought.
In the different activities and tasks that human beings carry out or also in those questions that we affirm, we are not exempt from incurring in errors, from misinterpretations, which end up questioning them.
So what corroboration does is come to eliminate doubts or concerns that may arise around something; However, the ideal is that this corroboration is accompanied by certain contributions and elements that will add more truth to what has been said.
In some specific circumstances, such as in the judicial sphere, the action of corroborating will imply that a work or a statement becomes valid when presented before an authority in the matter, such is the case of a judge or a court.
For example, the witness of a criminal act declares before the intervening police authorities that such person committed the crime, then, to ratify what was said and also to initiate a process against the person responsible, the witness must affirm it in front of the judge of the case.
A fundamental part of the scientific process
On the other hand, corroboration is one of the most important parts of the scientific research process, but at the same time it is an act that can occur in any sphere or area of daily life.
When we talk about corroborating something or the instance of corroboration within an investigation, we are referring to the most important moment of such process. This is so because it is there when it is verified whether everything said before is valid or significant or not for the object of study that is being analyzed. In this sense, whenever there is talk of corroboration, it is assumed that there are previous hypotheses or theories about certain phenomena, for example, the way in which the lunar phases occur or the way in which a crime was carried out.
The corroboration stage will then be based on the search and analysis of the existing evidence to support or annul those previous theories or ideas. Corroboration is therefore the final stage of the investigation process.
To corroborate a theory, predictions are usually established that can be verified from experimentation, or discarded, a fact that will then nullify the theory.
Corroboration is a phase of the scientific method that proposes the formulation of speculations about the facts of reality, and then subject them to the rigor of the evidence that will end up corroborating or refuting what has been proposed.
This corroboration activity can also occur in all aspects of human life, in the simple and in the most complex, without the need to go through a process of investigation or analysis. Thus, we can corroborate that a change is well given by counting the money received after a purchase; We can also corroborate the result of our academic performance by taking an exam and receiving the results, etc. Corroboration is important, then, whenever you need to know if something is as it is supposed to or not.
