William Jay Conover, Ph.D. Emeritus Horn Professor of Statistics Education: Ph.D., Catholic University of America (1964) Area of Expertise: Statistics M.A., Catholic University of America (1962) B.S. Iowa State University (1958) Active duty: U. S. Navy (1958-1961) Phone: 806.834.1546 Room Number: MA 105 Address: Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Texas Tech University, Lubbock Texas 79409-1042 Email:     jay.conover@ttu.edu

After teaching at the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Iowa State University, Kansas State University, the University of California at Davis, and the University of Zurich (Switzerland), he joined the Math Department at Texas Tech in 1973. From 1978-2015 he was in the TTU Rawls College of Business, becoming the Area Coordinator of Information Systems and Quantitative Sciences.  In 2015 Dr. Conover returned to the TTU Department of Mathematics & Statistics. While a member of the Rawls College faculty he won several research awards, including the Barney E. Rushing Distinguished Faculty Research Award from the TTU Parents Association, The Don Owen award from the San Antonio Chapter of the American Statistical Association, and the Wilks Medal from the U. S. Army. He was elected as a Fellow of the American Statistical Association, and appointed a Paul Whitfield Horn Professor by the Texas Tech Board of Regents, becoming a Horn Professor of Statistics for the Texas Tech Department of Mathematics & Statistics in 2015. He was named a Highly Cited Researcher by the ISI Thompson Scientific, and currently has over 38,000 citations to his many books and papers. He is listed in Who’s Who in America, and Who’s Who in the World. He retired in August, 2023.

Publications

PROFESSIONAL PUBLICATIONS:  BOOKS

Note: The various editions of Practical Nonparametric Statistics have been cited over 20,000 times, as of May 2018, as reported by the Harzing’s Publish or Perish software.

• Practical Nonparametric Statistics, John Wiley and Sons, New York (1971) 462 + pp. (fourteen printings).
• Practical Nonparametric Statistics, Second Edition, John Wiley and Sons, New York (1980) 493 + pp. (twenty-four printings).
• Practical Nonparametric Statistics, Third Edition, John Wiley and Sons, New York (1999) 584 + pp.
• Modern Business Statistics, John Wiley and Sons, New York (1983) 777 + pp. (with R.L. Iman)
• Modern Business Statistics, Second Edition, John Wiley and Sons, New York (1989) 910+ pp. (with R.L. Iman)
• Instructor's Manual to Accompany Modern Business Statistics, John Wiley and Sons, New York (1983) 239 pp. (with R.L. Iman)
• Instructor's Manual to Accompany Modern Business Statistics, Second Edition, John Wiley and Sons, New York (1989) 273+ pp. (with R.L. Iman)
• Student Study Guide to Accompany Modern Business Statistics, John Wiley and Sons, New York (1983) 281 + pp. (with R.L. Iman)
• Student Study Guide to Accompany Modern Business Statistics, Second Edition, John Wiley and Sons, New York (1989) 239+ pp.
• SAS Manual to Accompany Modern Business Statistics, Second Edition, John Wiley and Sons, New York (1989) 156+ pp.
• Introduction to Modern Business Statistics, John Wiley and Sons, New York (1983) 525 + pp. (with R.L. Iman)
• Instructor's Manual to Accompany Introduction to Modern Business Statistics, John Wiley and Sons, New York (1983) 164 pp. (with R.L. Iman)
• Student Study Guide to Accompany Introduction to Modern Business Statistics, John Wiley and Sons 179 + pp. (1983) (with R.L. Iman)
• A Modern Approach to Statistics, John Wiley and Sons, New York (1983) 498 pp. (with R.L. Iman)
• Instructor's Manual to Accompany a Modern Approach to Statistics, John Wiley and Sons, New York (1983) 154 + pp. (with R.L. Iman)
• Student Study Guide to Accompany a Modern Approach to Statistics, John Wiley and Sons, New York (1983) 169 + pp. (with R.L. Iman)

PAPERS PUBLISHED IN REFEREED JOURNALS:

Note: The papers listed here have been cited in total over 18,000 times, as of May 2018, as reported by Harzing’s Publish or Perish software.

• W. J. Conover, Victor G. Tercero-Gomez, and Alvaro E. Cordero-Franco (2018). “A look at sequential normal scores and how they apply to financial data analysis”. Journal of Applied Mathematics and Physics, Vol. 6, No. 4, pp. 787-816.
• W. J. Conover, Armando J. Guerrero-Serrano, and Victor G. Tercero-Gomez (2018). “An update on 'A comparative study of tests for homogeneity of variance'". Journal of Statistical Computation and Simulation, Vol. 88, No 8, pp.1454-1469.
• W. J. Conover, Victor G. Tercero-Gomez, and Alvaro E. Cordero-Franco (2017). “The sequential normal scores transformation”. Sequential Analysis, Vol. 36, No. 3, pp. 397-414.
• Elena Cristina Villanueva-Guerra, Victor G. Tercero-Gomez, Alvaro E. Cordero-Franco, and W. J. Conover (2017). “A control chart for variance based on squared ranks”. Journal of Statistical Computation and Simulation, Vol. 87, No. 18, pp. 3537-3562.
• Maria I. Salazar-Alvarez, Victor G. Tercero-Gomez, Alvaro E. Cordero-Franco, W. J. Conover, and Mario G. Beruvides (2017). “A quantile estimate based on local curve fitting”. arXiv:1706.05128.
• Maria I. Salazar-Alvarez, Maria del Carmen Temblador-Perez, W. J. Conover, Victor G. Tercero-Gomez, Alvaro E. Cordero-Franco, and Mario G. Beruvides (2016) . “Regressing sample quantiles to perform nonparametric capability analysis”. The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, Vol. 86., No. 5-8, pp. 1347-1356.
• Maria I. Salazar-Alvarez, Victor G. Tercero-Gomez, Maria del Carmen Temblador-Perez,  Alvaro E. Cordero-Franco, and W. J. Conover (2016) . “Nonparametric analysis of interactions: a review and gap analysis." Proceedings of the 2014 Industrial and Systems Engineering Research Conference, Y. Guan and H. Liao eds.
• W. J. Conover (2012). “The rank transformation – an easy and intuitive way to connect many nonparametric methods to their parametric counterparts for seamless teaching introductory statistics courses”. WIREs Computational Statistics. Vol. 4, Doi:.org/10.1002/wics1216. (cited 23 times
• W. J. Conover (2011). “Rank Transformations”. In: Lovric M. (eds) International Encyclopedia of Statistical Science. Spinger, Berlin, Heidelberg.
• W. J. Conover (2010). “Letter to the Editor”. Technometrics, Vol. 32, pp 256-257.
• DeWayne R. Derryberry, Sue B. Schou, and W. J. Conover (2010). “Teaching rank-based tests by emphasizing structural similarities to corresponding parametric tests”. Journal of Statistics Education, Vol. 18, No. 1  (appeared online 07 August 2017). (cited 11 times)
• W. J. Conover (2009). “Distribution-free Methods in Statistics.” WIREs Computational Statistics, Vol. 1, No. 2, pp. 199-207.
• W. J. Conover (2002). "Some Locally Most Powerful Rank Tests for Correlation". Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods, Vol.1, No. 1, pp. 19-23.
•  M.D. McKay, W. J. Conover and R.J. Beckman (reprint in 2000). To celebrate 40 years of publication of Technometrics, its editors selected eleven "landmark articles" for publication in the February, 2000 issue (Volume 42, No. 1). One of my papers was included: "A Comparison of Three Methods for Selecting Values of Input Variables in the Analysis of Output From a Computer Code," originally published in 1979. (cited 8087 times)
•  J. Lampe, W. J. Conover, D. Bline and S. Sutton (1999). "Uses and Misuses of Cronbach's Alpha: Implications for Behavioral Researchers". Advances in Accounting Behavioral Research, Vol. 2, , pp. 283-307.
• G. Taylor and W. J. Conover (1988). "A Nonparametric Confidence Interval for Slope Based on Spearman's Rho.  Communications in Statistics - Simulation and Computation, Vol. 17, No. 3, pp. 905-916.
• W. J. Conover and D. Salsburg (1988). "Locally Most Powerful Tests for Detecting Treatment Effects When Only a Subset of Patients Can be Expected to 'Respond' to Treatment".  Biometrics, Vol. 44, No. 1, pp. 189-196. (cited 86 times)
• R. L. Iman and W. J. Conover (1987). "A Measure of Top-down Correlation".  Technometrics, Vol. 29, No. 3, pp. 351-357. (cited 135 times)
• S. C. Hora and W. J. Conover (1984). "The F Statistic in the Two-Way Layout With Rank-Score Transformed Data".  Journal of the American Statistical Association, Vol. 79, No. 387,, pp. 668-673. (cited 109 times)
• R. L. Iman, S. C. Hora and W. J. Conover (1984). "Comparison of Asymptotically Distribution-Free Procedures for the Analysis of Complete Blocks".  Journal of the American Statistical Association, Vol. 79, No. 387, pp. 674-685. (cited 118 times)
• W. J. Conover and R. L. Iman (1982). "Analysis of Covariance Using the Rank Transformation". Biometrics, pp. 715-724.  (This paper was given the award for the Most Outstanding Presentation at the 1982 annual meeting of the American Statistical Association.) (cited 395 times)
• R. L. Iman and W. J. Conover (1982). "A Distribution-Free Approach to Inducing Rank Correlation Among Input Variables".  Communications in Statistics, Vol. B11, No. 3, pp. 311-334.  (This paper was given the runner-up award for  Outstanding Presentation at the 1981 annual meeting of the American Statistical Association.) (cited 1462 times)
• R. L. Iman and W. J. Conover (1980). "Rank Transformations as a Bridge Between Parametric and Nonparametric Statistics".  The American Statistician, Vol. 35, No.3 (1981), pp. 124-134 (including two discussions and a rejoinder). (cited 3674 times)
• W. J. Conover, M. E. Johnson and M. M. Johnson (1981). "A comparative study of Tests for Homogeneity of Variance, with Applications to the Outer Continental Shelf Bidding Data".  Technometrics, Vol. 23, No. 4, pp. 351-361.  (This paper was awarded the Jack Youden Prize for being the best expository paper in Technometrics in 1981.) (cited 823 times)
• W. J. Conover and R. L. Iman (1980). "The Rank Transformation as a Method of Discrimination with Some Examples".  Communications in Statistics, Vol. A9, No. 5, pp. 465-487. (cited 121 times)
• R. L. Iman and W. J. Conover (1980). "Small Sample Sensitivity Analysis Techniques for Computer Models, With an Application to Risk Assessment".  Communication in Statistics, Vol. A9, No. 17, pp. 1749-1874.  (This paper, plus several discussions and a rejoinder, occupies the entire issue). (cited 806 times)
• R. L. Iman and W. J. Conover (1979). "The Use of the Rank Transform in Regression".  Technometrics, Vol. 21, No. 4, pp. 499-509. (cited 479 times)
• W. J. Conover, T. R. Bement and R. L. Iman (1979). "On a Method of Detecting Clusters of Possible Uranium Deposits in the Lubbock Region".  Technometrics, Vol. 21, No. 3, pp. 277-282. (cited 28 times)
• G.S. Cembrowski, J.O. Westgard, E.C. Toren, Jr. and W. J. Conover (1979). "Statistical Analysis of Method Comparison Data:  Testing Normality".  American Journal of Clinical Pathology, Vol. 72, No. 1, pp. 21-26. (cited 22 times)
•  M.D. McKay, W. J. Conover and R.J. Beckman (1979). "A Comparison of Three Methods for Selecting Values of Input Variables in the Analysis of Output from a Computer Code".  Technometrics, Vol. 21, No. 2, pp.239-245. (see reprint in 2000, cited 8087 times)
• W. J. Conover and R. L. Iman ((1978). "Some Exact Tables for the Squared Ranks Test".  Communications in Statistics, Volume B7, No. 5, pp. 491-513. (cited 19 times)
• R. L. Iman and W. J. Conover (1978). ""Approximations of the Critical Region for Spearman's Rho With and Without Ties Present". Communications in Statistics, Vol. B7, No. 3, pp. 269-282. (cited 26 times)
• W. J. Conover, O. Wehmanen and F.L. Ramsey (1978). "A Note on the Small-Sample Power Functions for Nonparametric Tests of Location in the Double Exponential Family".  Journal of the American Statistical Association, Vol. 73, No. 361, pp. 188-190. (cited 10 times)
• R. L. Iman and W. J. Conover (1977). "On the Power of the t-Test and Some Ranks Tests When Outliers May be Present".  The Canadian Journal of Statistics, Vol. 5, No. 2, pp. 187-193.
• W. J. Conover and R. L. Iman (1976). "On Some Alternative Procedures Using Ranks for the Analysis of Experimental Designs".  Communications in Statistics - Theory and Methods, Vol. A5, No. 14, pp. 1349-1368. (cited 230 times)
• W. J. Conover and K. E. Kemp (1976). "Comparisons of the Asymptotic Efficiencies of Two Sample Tests for Discrete Distributions".  Communications in Statistics - Theory and Methods, Vol. A5, No. 1, pp. 1-15.
• G. R. Hobbs and W. J. Conover (1974). "The Asymptotic Efficiency of the Kruskal-Wallis test and the Median Test in Contingency Tables with Ordered Categories".  Communications in Statistics, Vol. 3, No. 12, pp. 1131-1138.
• W. J. Conover (1974). "Some Reasons for Not Using the Yates Continuity Correction on 2 x 2 Contingency Tables".  Journal of the American Statistical Association, Vol. 69, No. 2, pp. 374-382. (cited 230 times)
• W. J. Conover (1973). "On Methods of Handling Ties in the Wilcoxon Signed rank Test". Journal of the American Statistical Association, Vol. 68 N0. 4, pp. 985-988.
• K. E. Kemp and W. J. Conover (1973). "Robustness and Power of the t-Test Compared With Some Nonparametric Alternatives when Sampling from a Poisson Distribution".  Journal of Statistical Computation and Simulation, Vol. 2, pp. 293-307.
• W. J. Conover (1973). "Rank Tests for One Sample, Two Samples, and k-Samples Without the Assumption of a Continuous Distribution Function".  Annals of Statistics, Vol. 1 (November, 1973), pp. 1105-1125. (cited 91 times)
• W. J. Conover (1972). "A Kolmogrov-Type Goodness of Fit Test for Discontinuous Distributions".  Journal of the American Statistical Association, Vol. 67 (September, 1972) pp. 591-596. (cited 192 times)
• W. J. Conover (1971). "Introduction to Bayesian Methods Using the Thomas-Fiering Model".  Water Resources Research, Vol 7, pp. 406-409. (cited 8 times)
• W. J. Conover and N. C. Matalas (1969). "A Statistical Model of Turbulence Applicable to Sediment Laden Streams".  Journal of the American Society of Civil Engineers, pp. 1063-1081.
• W. J. Conover (1968). "Two k-Sample Slippage Tests".  Journal of the American Statistical Association, Vol. 63, pp. 614-626. (cited 25 times)
• W. J. Conover (1967). "The Distribution Functions of Tsao's Truncated Smirnov Test Statistic".  Annals of Mathematical Statistics, Vol. 38, pp. 1208-1215. (cited 15 times)
• W. J. Conover (1967). "A k-Sample Extension of the One-Sided Two-Sample Smirnov Test Statistic".  Annals of Mathematical Statistics, Vol. 38, pp. 1726-1730. (cited 17 times)
• W. J. Conover (1965). "A k-Sample Model in Order Statistics".  Annals of Mathematical Statistics, Vol. 36, pp. 1223-1235. (cited 15 times)
• W. J. Conover (1965). "Several k-Sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov Tests".  Annals of Mathematical Statistics, Vol. 36, pp. 1019-1026. (cited 37 times)
• W. J. Conover (1965). "The Distribution of Sum f(Y_t), Where (Y₀ , Y₁ ,...) is a Realization of a Non-homogeneous Finite-State Markov Chain".  Biometrika, Vol.52, pp. 277-279. (cited 5 times)
• N. C. Matalas and W. J. Conover (1965). "Derivation of the Velocity Profile from a Statistical Model of Turbulence".Water Resources Research, Vol.1, pp 235-261. (cited 6 times)

Current Research

Dr. Conover is currently doing research in developing and evaluating nonparametric methods of quality control, in collaboration with former students who are now on the faculty at Monterrey Tech in Mexico.

Awards and Honors

MAJOR HONORS:

• Listed in Who's Who in the World, (since 1990-91)
• Listed in Who's Who in America, (since 1987)
• Paul Whitfield Horn Professor of Statistics, (since 1981) - "Horn Professorships - the highest honor the University may bestow on members of its faculty - are granted to professors of international or national distinction for outstanding teaching, research, or other creative achievement."  Texas Tech University Faculty Handbook.
• Fellow of the American Statistical Association (since 1979) - The citation reads, "for significant contributions to nonparametric statistics, for wide ranging and effective statistical consulting, and for excellence as a teacher and administrator."
• Recipient of the 1999 Wilks Medal - Awarded to at most one statistician each year, from throughout the world, on the basis of lifetime contributions to research of benefit to the U.S. Army.
• Recipient of the 1986 Don Owen Award - Awarded annually to a member of the ASA in Texas or the surrounding states, for "excellence in research, contributions to editorial activities and service to the statistical community."
• Recipient of the 1983-84 Texas Tech Dads Association Barnie E. Rushing, Jr. Distinguished Faculty Research Award. This is the top University research award, awarded to one faculty member each year.
• Currently listed by the ISI Thomson Scientific as a Highly Cited Researcher – Original Member, Highly Cited Researchers database. Over 38,000 citations as of May 2018, and increasing at the rate of 200 citations per month. "ISI honors your accomplishments as one of the most highly cited, influential researchers in your field.” I am one of only two Texas Tech professors so listed. 

CAREER APPOINTMENTS:

• 2015 – present: Horn Professor of Statistics, Mathematics and Statistics, Texas Tech University
• 2001 – 2012: MBA Programs Coordinator, Rawls College of Business Administration, Texas Tech University
• 1988 – 2015: Horn Professor of Statistics, area of Information Systems and Quantitative Sciences, Rawls College of Business Administration, Texas Tech University
• 1984 – 1988: Horn Professor of Statistics and Area Coordinator of Information Systems and Quantitative Sciences, Rawls College of Business Administration, Texas Tech University
• 1981 – 1984: Horn Professor of Statistics and Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Programs, Rawls College of Business Administration, Texas Tech University
• 1978 – 1981 Professor of Statistics and Area Coordinator of Information Systems and Quantitative Sciences, Rawls College of Business Administration, Texas Tech University
• 1973 – 1978: Professor of Mathematics and Statistics, College of Arts and Sciences, Texas Tech University
• 1964 – 1973: Assistant Professor of Statistics (1964-67), and Associate Professor of Statistics and Computer Science (1967-73), College of Arts and Sciences, Kansas State University.

AWARDS: 

• 1983 - Most Outstanding Presentation Award for "Analysis of Covariance Using the Rank Transformation," with R.L. Iman, presented at the 1982 Annual Meeting of the American Statistical Association, awarded by the Section on Physical and Engineering Sciences.
• 1983 -  Runner-up Most Outstanding Presentation Award for "A Comparison of Asymptotically Distribution Free Procedures for the Analysis of Complete Blocks," with R.L. Iman and S.C. Hora, presented at the 1982 Annual Meeting of the American Statistical Association, awarded by the Section on Physical and Engineering Sciences.
• 1982 - Jack Youden Prize ($500 for the best expository paper in Technometrics in 1981) for "A Comparative Study of Tests for Homogeneity of Variances, with Applications to the Outer Continental Shelf Bidding Data," with M.M. Johnson and M.E. Johnson, awarded by the Chemical Division of the American Society for Quality Control.
• 1982 -  College of Business Administration Nominee for Tech Dads Association Faculty Research Award, and Runner-up for award.
• 1982 - Runner-up Most Outstanding Presentation Award for "A Distribution - Free Approach to Inducing Rank Correlation Among Input Variables for Simulation Studies," with R.L. Iman, presented at the 1981 Annual Meeting of the American Statistical Association, awarded by the Section on Physical and Engineering Sciences.
• 1981 -  College of Business Administration Nominee for Tech Dads Association Faculty Research Award, and Runner-up for award.
• 1981 - Most Outstanding Presentation Award for "Small Sample Efficiency of Fisher's Randomization Test When Applied to Experimental Designs," with R.L. Iman, presented at the 1980 Annual Meeting of the American Statistical Association, awarded by the Section on Physical and Engineering Sciences.
• 1981 -  Runner-up Most Outstanding Presentation Award for "Multiple Comparisons Procedures Based on the Rank Transformation," with R.L. Iman, presented at the 1980 Annual Meeting of the American Statistical Association, awarded by the Section on Physical and Engineering Sciences.
• 1980 - College of Business Administration Outstanding Researcher Award, and Nominee for the Tech Dads Association Faculty Research Award.