William Jay Conover, Ph.D.

Biography

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 had been cited over 20,000 times as of May 2018, as reported by 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 (1983), 179+ pp. (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 had 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:10.1002/wics1216.
• W. J. Conover (2011). “Rank Transformations.” In: Lovric, M. (ed.), International Encyclopedia of Statistical Science. Springer, 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.
• 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 included article was “A Comparison of Three Methods for Selecting Values of Input Variables in the Analysis of Output From a Computer Code,” originally published in 1979.
• 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.
• R. L. Iman and W. J. Conover (1987). “A Measure of Top-down Correlation.” Technometrics, Vol. 29, No. 3, pp. 351-357.
• 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.
• 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.
• W. J. Conover and R. L. Iman (1982). “Analysis of Covariance Using the Rank Transformation.” Biometrics, pp. 715-724.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• R. L. Iman and W. J. Conover (1979). “The Use of the Rank Transform in Regression.” Technometrics, Vol. 21, No. 4, pp. 499-509.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• W. J. Conover and R. L. Iman (1978). “Some Exact Tables for the Squared Ranks Test.” Communications in Statistics, Vol. B7, No. 5, pp. 491-513.
• 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.
• 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.
• R. L. Iman and W. J. Conover (1977). “On the Power of the t-Test and Some Rank 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.
• 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.
• W. J. Conover (1973). “On Methods of Handling Ties in the Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test.” Journal of the American Statistical Association, Vol. 68, No. 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, pp. 1105-1125.
• W. J. Conover (1972). “A Kolmogrov-Type Goodness of Fit Test for Discontinuous Distributions.” Journal of the American Statistical Association, Vol. 67, pp. 591-596.
• W. J. Conover (1971). “Introduction to Bayesian Methods Using the Thomas-Fiering Model.” Water Resources Research, Vol. 7, pp. 406-409.
• 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.
• W. J. Conover (1967). “The Distribution Functions of Tsao’s Truncated Smirnov Test Statistic.” Annals of Mathematical Statistics, Vol. 38, pp. 1208-1215.
• 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.
• W. J. Conover (1965). “A k-Sample Model in Order Statistics.” Annals of Mathematical Statistics, Vol. 36, pp. 1223-1235.
• W. J. Conover (1965). “Several k-Sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov Tests.” Annals of Mathematical Statistics, Vol. 36, pp. 1019-1026.
• 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.
• 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.

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).
• Recipient of the 1999 Wilks Medal.
• Recipient of the 1986 Don Owen Award.
• Recipient of the 1983-84 Texas Tech Dads Association Barnie E. Rushing, Jr. Distinguished Faculty Research Award.
• Listed by ISI Thomson Scientific as a Highly Cited Researcher, with over 38,000 citations as of May 2018.

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.
• 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.
• 1982 – Jack Youden Prize for the best expository paper in Technometrics in 1981.
• 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.
• 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.
• 1981 – Runner-up Most Outstanding Presentation Award for “Multiple Comparisons Procedures Based on the Rank Transformation,” with R. L. Iman.
• 1980 – College of Business Administration Outstanding Researcher Award, and nominee for the Tech Dads Association Faculty Research Award.