In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
Glen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>I assume that what [EMAIL PROTECTED] (seenu) intended to ask was:
>> Is pearson's chi-square for testing independence in two-way 
>> contingency tables a non-parametric statistical test?

>The answer depends on who you ask, or on how you define
>"nonparametric". (Some definitions will exclude it.)

>It is widely, but not universally, regarded as one; many
>textbooks on nonparametric statistics include it.

This is a poor way of putting it.  A non-parametric test,
more precisely a distribution-free test, is one where
the test properties are unchanged under reasonable changes,
usually taken to be continuous transformations, of the
variables.  This is not possible in two-way tables.

For two-way contingency tables, the marginals definitely
affect the properties of the test for independence.



-- 
This address is for information only.  I do not claim that these views
are those of the Statistics Department or of Purdue University.
Herman Rubin, Department of Statistics, Purdue University
[EMAIL PROTECTED]         Phone: (765)494-6054   FAX: (765)494-0558
.
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