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Fisher's Exact Test in SPSS: When to Use It Instead of Chi-Square

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IBM SPSS Academy 27 File Edit View Data Transform Analyze Graphs Utilities Descriptive Academy ▶ ▶ Crosstabs Menü Yolu: Analyze → Descriptive Academy → Crosstabs Yukarıdaki menü yolunu takip ederek analiz penceresini açın

📸 Fisher's Exact Test via SPSS Crosstabs → Chi-Square statistics

When Is Fisher's Exact Test Used?

Fisher's Exact Test is used for 2×2 contingency tables when chi-square assumptions are violated: specifically, when expected cell frequencies are below 5. While chi-square is an approximation, Fisher's test calculates the exact probability of obtaining the observed table (or more extreme) under the null hypothesis.

Rule of thumb: use Fisher's Exact Test when any expected frequency in a 2×2 table is below 5, or when n<20.

Running Fisher's Test in SPSS

Step 1: Analyze → Descriptive Academy → Crosstabs. Place variables in Row and Column.
Step 2: Academy → check Chi-square → Continue → OK.
Step 3: In the output, read the Fisher's Exact Test row, not the Pearson Chi-Square row.
SPSS Academy Output Viewer Chi-Square Tests Test Value df Asymp. Sig. Exact Sig. Pearson Chi-Square 3.841 1 .050 Fisher's Exact Test .047* N of Valid Cases 24 * p < .05 anlamlı sonuç gösterir

📸 Fisher's Exact Test output

APA Reporting

Fisher's exact test indicated a significant association between treatment group and recovery status, p=.047. Fisher's exact test was used because expected cell frequencies were below 5 (minimum expected = 2.8).

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