  Estimates of nuclear matrix elements for neutrinoless double beta decay
(0nu2beta) based on the quasiparticle random phase approximations (QRPA) are
affected by theoretical uncertainties, which can be substantially reduced by
fixing the unknown strength parameter g_pp of the residual particle-particle
interaction through one experimental constraint - most notably through the
two-neutrino double beta decay (2nu2beta) lifetime. However, it has been noted
that the g_pp adjustment via 2\nu2\beta data may bring QRPA models in
disagreement with independent data on electron capture (EC) and single beta
decay (beta^-) lifetimes. Actually, in two nuclei of interest for 0nu2beta
decay (Mo-100 and Cd-116), for which all such data are available, we show that
the disagreement vanishes, provided that the axial vector coupling g_A is
treated as a free parameter, with allowance for g_A<1 (``strong quenching'').
Three independent lifetime data (2nu2beta, EC, \beta^-) are then accurately
reproduced by means of two free parameters (g_pp, g_A), resulting in an
overconstrained parameter space. In addition, the sign of the 2nu2beta matrix
element M^2nu is unambiguously selected (M^2nu>0) by the combination of all
data. We discuss quantitatively, in each of the two nuclei, these
phenomenological constraints and their consequences for QRPA estimates of the
0nu2beta matrix elements and of their uncertainties.
