Goodman and Kruskal's τ measure of categorical association is advanced as a replacement for conventional measures of effect size for r × c contingency tables. Goodman and Kruskal's τ is an asymmetric measure of categorical association which is based entirely on the observed data and possesses a clear interpretation in terms of proportional reduction in error. Comparisons with conventional measures of effect size based on chi-squared such as Pearson's ϕ2, Tschuprow's T2, and Cramér's V2 demonstrate the advantages of employing τ as a measure of effect size.
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