CONFIRM versus NOT CONFIRM is applied to a study's hypotheses by psychologists instead of the common term PROVE versus NOT PROVE. PROVE and NOT PROVE are to psychologists like ain't is to an English professor; it is not the correct way to talk. Psychologists dislike the term prove because it implies that that the study's results are the ultimate answer to the question studied; no more research need be done because the answer has been found. Only purely deductive reasoning like that used in philosophy and theology can lead to certain knowledge. Psychology mainly depends on inductive reasoning which is inherently uncertain. All empirical studies have innate limitations since their conclusions depend on inductive reasoning and inferential probability judgments from data. By using statistics (which are innately uncertain) psychologists know that 5% of the positive results we find are accidental and, on the other hand, we sometimes report negative results by accident too. This is why psychologists are hesitant to use the heavy duty term PROVE and prefer the more neutral, accurate term CONFIRM if the data comes out the way the hypothesis predicts.  

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