# Confusion related to significance test

I am trying to read the significance tests. However, I am a bit confused what exactly is the difference between chisquared test and z test. I read that chisquared is non parametric and it doesn't make any assumption about the distribution of the population. However, z test assumes that the statistic parameter forms a normal distribution. Using central limit theorem, if the number of samples are very high we can assume that the statistic is from a normal distribution

• You ought to define what z test you mean. There's at least 3 well known totally different statistical tests sharing the name: z-test of means (a t-test when population variances are known); z-test of proportions (equal to chi-sq test for 2x2 table); z-test of signs. – ttnphns Dec 16 '12 at 8:09
• Please define which specific z- and chi-square tests you mean, and if possible show us what was actually said about the chi-square. I believe there are generally distributional assumptions for most chi-square tests (having derived a number of them as exercises). – Glen_b -Reinstate Monica Dec 16 '12 at 10:52