Practical Nonparametric Statistics, 3rd Edition

For the practitioner, this book is the broadest catalog I know of how-to for NPS: when each analysis applies and how to apply it. Even more, it gives insight into how some of the tests work. That gives the reader a better chance to understand each technique's strengths, weaknesses, and applicability. For the student, including self-taught, it's a clear and well-organized textbook. The exercises are varied and generally meaningful, and half have answers (though little discussion of how the answers were derived).

I wish the book gave more background, including how some of the distributions are derived. Most times, seeing more of the derivation gives me more confidence in using an analysis. Face it, almost every real-life situation needs to be bashed a bit to fit the format expected by a test. Knowing more of the background gives me more assurance that my machinations don't break any important assumptions. Still, it's the author's choice to emphasize practice over theory and I have to respect that.

More seriously, I would like to see the bootstrapping section enlarged. Many modern applications, particularly in biology, deal with data so complex that they define analysis or even real understanding. Bootstrapping is just one of many randomization and resampling techniques used for such data. More discussion on the design and analysis of resampling techniques would have been very useful.

The book meets its goals, though, and does so admirably. I'm not a stat specialist, but this is the book I'll recommend for heavy users who want a little more than rote recitation of analytic techniques.


2nd edition is a classic for applied nonparametrics   December 3, 2000
Michael R. Chernick (Malvern, PA)
15 out of 16 found this review helpful

I own the second edition. So my comments refer mainly to it. Conover writes very well and covers all the commonly used nonparametric tests. He does a great job of handling the special treatment when there are many ties in a rank test. He also provides many important statistical tables. My understanding of the third edition is that it continues to cover the nonparametric procedures that have stood the test of time and that popular modern methods like bootstrap are also covered.


this is a review of third edition   April 21, 2001
Michael R. Chernick (Malvern, PA)
16 out of 18 found this review helpful

As I just got a copy of the third edition I can now say that many of my comments on the second edition still hold. The book is authoritative, clearly written and very much applications oriented. Conover has done a good job of updating it with recent developments. He provides a nice introductory treatment of bootstrap among other things.


Excellent Introduction   April 11, 2000
Matt Knepley (Chicago, IL United States)
13 out of 15 found this review helpful

This is a very impressive book. All concepts are introduced in an elementary fashion, with derivation following only after an example of the technique. The explanations are lucid and the extensive lists of references very helpful. I would heartily recommend this book to anyone interested in robust estimators and nonparametric methods.


Practical indeed!   May 3, 2006
H. Ward
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

This book is a great reference for the scientist needing to know how best to interpret their results. It has clear explanations for when to use particular tests as well as how to use the tests when multiple observers are rating the same event. Analogous parametric tests are mentioned along with comparisons (A.R.E.) of their relative efficiency.

This was much better info than I got from the statisticians at my workplace - of course, the statisticians want to keep my business, not tell me how to do it!