Raised conditional level of significance for the 2 × 2‐table when testing the equality of two probabilities

Abstract

Summary In this paper it is to be shown that F isher's non‐randomizing exact test for 2 × 2‐tables, which is a conditional test, can by simple means be changed into an unconditional test using raised levels of significance; not seldom, especially for not too large samples, the level of significance can be doubled. This leads in many cases to a considerable increase of power of the test. A table with raised levels has been prepared up to sample sizes of 50 and a rule of thumb, which can be used if this table is not available, has been developEd.