Comparative Study on the Degree of Randomness of Few Popular Random Number Tables

Abstract

In the field of statistics as well as in the different branches of experimental sciences, random number tables have been playing a vital role for the purpose of selecting random samples. Among the existing different random number tables, four tables namely, Tippet’s random number table, Fisher and Yates random number table, Kendall and Smith's random number table and random number table of RAND Corporation are of most frequent use. The current study aims at attempting to make a comparative review on the degree on randomness of these four most frequently used random number tables based on  test, run test and deviation test. From the findings based on  test, the highest degree of randomness has been observed in random number table due to RAND Corporation followed by due to Kendall and Smith, Tippet, Fisher and Yates, respectively. In case of run test, the highest degree of randomness has been noticed in random number table due to Fisher and Yates followed by due to Tippet, RAND Corporation, Kendall and Smith, respectively. However, from the findings based on the deviation test, the highest degree of randomness has been observed in random number table due to Kendall and Smith followed by due to Fisher and Yates, RAND Corporation, Tippet, respectively. It can observed that the findings obtained in the studies based on different tests are not alike. Consequently, there is necessity to search for the reasons of the difference between these findings. Moreover, it can also be concluded that attempts should be made by the researchers to construct new random numbers table with enhanced degree of randomness than that of the existing tables.