Yates's continuity correction is an adjustment applied to which test when the contingency table is 2x2?

Yates's continuity correction is an adjustment applied to which test when the contingency table is 2x2?

• A. Chi-square test with any table.
• B. t-test.
• C. Chi-square test for a 2x2 contingency table.
• D. ANOVA.

Answer: (C)

Yates's continuity correction is used to improve the accuracy of the Pearson chi-square test when the contingency table is 2x2 and counts are small. Because count data are discrete, the chi-square distribution is a rough approximation, and the correction tightens this approximation by adjusting the difference between observed and expected frequencies. For each cell, you replace the absolute difference |O − E| with |O − E| − 0.5, square it, and divide by the expected frequency, then sum these across the four cells. This makes the test statistic smaller, so you’re less likely to claim significance due to random discreteness in small samples. When sample sizes are large, the correction has little effect. This adjustment is specific to the 2x2 chi-square test and isn’t used with t-tests or ANOVA.

Yates's continuity correction is used to improve the accuracy of the Pearson chi-square test when the contingency table is 2x2 and counts are small. Because count data are discrete, the chi-square distribution is a rough approximation, and the correction tightens this approximation by adjusting the difference between observed and expected frequencies. For each cell, you replace the absolute difference |O − E| with |O − E| − 0.5, square it, and divide by the expected frequency, then sum these across the four cells. This makes the test statistic smaller, so you’re less likely to claim significance due to random discreteness in small samples. When sample sizes are large, the correction has little effect. This adjustment is specific to the 2x2 chi-square test and isn’t used with t-tests or ANOVA.