CHITEST: A Monte-Carlo computer program for contingency table tests

CHITEST is an interactive FORTRAN 77 program that uses Monte-Carlo methods to test the null hypothesis that the row and column factors of a r-by-k contingency table are independent of each other. The program optionally performs the test for two populations: (1) the population of tables that have the same row and column marginal frequencies as the observed table; and (2) the population of tables that have the same total frequency as the observed table. The test does not require the expected cell frequencies to be large values—a requirement necessary for the standard chi-square test of independence to be valid. The program also will test the goodness-of-fit of an empirical distribution to a discrete theoretical distribution, and this test does not require large expected values for the theoretical distribution.