Arguments for Fisher's Permutation Test

Abstract

The problem of statistical comparison of two distributions, continuous as well as discrete, is considered. Very slight and reasonable modifications of traditional parameteric models, e.g. `normal distributions with equal variances', are shown to result in permutation tests, only. Fisher's permutations test is shown to have optimum properties which mean a good merit for its practical use. Further, an accurate method of determining the $p$-value of Fisher's test is proposed.