Weighting the seriousness of perceived health problems using Thurstone's method of paired comparisons.

An exercise carried out to weight the seriousness of perceived health problems using Thurstone's method of paired comparisons is reported. For the purposes of illustration, the sleep section of the Nottingham Health Profile containing 5 statements is used. The calculation of the scale values associated with each statement is described and a new method of deriving weights from the scale values is proposed. The judgement of comparisons was found acceptable to interviewees. The applicability of the paired comparison techniques of the field of health is discussed.