verify_method | GrantTrove — grant data you can cite

How the last check was made — reading the page, or taking a feed’s word for it.

verify_method records how last_verified_at was established.

A field re-read from the source page and a field carried forward because a feed did not report a change are both "verified" in a loose sense and are not the same evidence. Storing the method keeps them distinguishable, so a date is never stronger than the check behind it.

Shown as: beside the verification date on a record. When absent: never; a verification date without a method would be the ambiguity this field exists to remove. See also verification method.