Rank-ordering: a suitable method for nursing research.

Rank-ordering is an easy to use and easy to analyse method of organising comparative data for judgement. It is a method that can be used in nursing research whenever the opinions of people are sought. As it is very difficult to find a simple, practical guide for this procedure, data from a study on patients' perception of their privacy in hospital are used to illustrate the analysis and presentation of rank-ordered data.