R help - Aug 2009 - prop.test() - need algorithm or reference

Preparing a paper for a medical journal.  

Using the prop.test() function in R (v2.4.0) 

to compare two groups' response to data like the following.

A sample of 100 individuals from Population I, 18 with positive readings

from a certain test,

  vs.

A sample of 148 individuals from Population II, 61 with positive readings.



Results look like this:



R version 2.4.0 Patched (2006-11-25 r39997)

......
> prop.test(c(18,61),c(100,148))


        2-sample test for equality of proportions with continuity

correction



        data:  c(18, 61) out of c(100, 148)

        X-squared = 13.7676, df = 1, p-value = 0.0002069

        alternative hypothesis: two.sided

        95 percent confidence interval:

         -0.3498963 -0.1144280

         sample estimates:

            prop 1    prop 2

            0.1800000 0.4121622





Presumably the p-value measures that the likelihood

that the two populations have the same proportion of

response.  My question is this.  The reviewer of the

paper has asked for a reference on the algorithm used

to compute the p-value. The R Reference Manual is not

clear on this.  Is this a standard algorithm that can

be quoted by name (e.g., "Two-sample T Test")?  I

do note that the manual quotes a 1927 article by E.B.

Wilson.  Is the method of computation explained there?



Thank you for any assistance you can provide.



George Heine

gheine at mathnmaps.com

The help page of prop.test gives you three references. Isn't it enough?
For example,

     Newcombe R.G. (1998) Two-Sided Confidence Intervals for the Single
     Proportion: Comparison of Seven Methods. _Statistics in Medicine_
     *17*, 857-872.

     Newcombe R.G. (1998) Interval Estimation for the Difference
     Between Independent Proportions: Comparison of Eleven Methods.
     _Statistics in Medicine_ *17*, 873-890.


2009/8/13  <gheine at mathnmaps.com>:
>
> Preparing a paper for a medical journal.
>
> Using the prop.test() function in R (v2.4.0)
>
> to compare two groups' response to data like the following.
>
> A sample of 100 individuals from Population I, 18 with positive readings
>
> from a certain test,
>
> ?vs.
>
> A sample of 148 individuals from Population II, 61 with positive readings.
>
>
>
> Results look like this:
>
>
>
> R version 2.4.0 Patched (2006-11-25 r39997)
>
> ......
>
>> prop.test(c(18,61),c(100,148))
>
>
>
> ? ? ? ?2-sample test for equality of proportions with continuity
>
> correction
>
>
>
> ? ? ? ?data: ?c(18, 61) out of c(100, 148)
>
> ? ? ? ?X-squared = 13.7676, df = 1, p-value = 0.0002069
>
> ? ? ? ?alternative hypothesis: two.sided
>
> ? ? ? ?95 percent confidence interval:
>
> ? ? ? ? -0.3498963 -0.1144280
>
> ? ? ? ? sample estimates:
>
> ? ? ? ? ? ?prop 1 ? ?prop 2
>
> ? ? ? ? ? ?0.1800000 0.4121622
>
>
>
>
>
> Presumably the p-value measures that the likelihood
>
> that the two populations have the same proportion of
>
> response. ?My question is this. ?The reviewer of the
>
> paper has asked for a reference on the algorithm used
>
> to compute the p-value. The R Reference Manual is not
>
> clear on this. ?Is this a standard algorithm that can
>
> be quoted by name (e.g., "Two-sample T Test")? ?I
>
> do note that the manual quotes a 1927 article by E.B.
>
> Wilson. ?Is the method of computation explained there?
>
>
>
> Thank you for any assistance you can provide.
>
>
>
> George Heine
>
> gheine at mathnmaps.com
>
> ______________________________________________
> R-help at r-project.org mailing list
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> PLEASE do read the posting guide
http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
>


-- 
HUANG Ronggui, Wincent
PhD Candidate
Dept of Public and Social Administration
City University of Hong Kong
Home page: http://asrr.r-forge.r-project.org/rghuang.html