Fisher's exact test, difference in proportions, log odds ratio, Pearson's chi-squared, and likelihood ratio are compared as test statistics for testing independence of two dichotomous factors when the associated p values are computed by using the conditional distribution given the marginals.The statistics listed above that can be used for a one-sided alternative give identical p values.For a two-sided alternative, many of the above statistics lead to different p values.The p values are shown to differ only by which tables in the opposite tail from the observed table are considered more extreme than the observed table.