title: Yates's correction for continuity and the analysis of 2 x 2 contingency tables.
abstract: Despite recommendations to the contrary, medical researchers still routinely use the Yates-corrected chi-square statistic in analyses of 2 x 2 contingency tables. Research has shown that these 'corrected' statistics are overly conservative and that the conventional Pearson chi-square generally provides adequate control over type I error probabilities. This paper makes a straightforward argument against use of Yates's correction for continuity and Fisher's exact probability test.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Loma Linda University School of Medicine, CA 92350.
authors.forename: M G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Haviland
mesh_terms: D015982:Bias; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D015233:Models, Statistical; D011336:Probability; D012107:Research Design; D013223:Statistics as Topic / Q000379:methods*