--- title: "Ranking questions in surveys: examples and analysis" description: "Ranking survey questions: what they are, examples, ranking vs rating scales, how to calculate average rank, and how long a list people can rank reliably." url: https://askyo.ru/en/question-types/ranking lang: en last_modified: 2026-09-27 --- 1. [Home](https://askyo.ru/en) 2. [Question types](https://askyo.ru/en/question-types) 3. Ranking questions Question type # Ranking questions A ranking question asks respondents to put a list of items in order, from most to least important. Ties are impossible, so it reveals priorities that rating scales hide: when everything can get five stars, everything does. It works best with four to seven items that people can hold in mind at once. Available on the free plan [Build a survey with this question ](https://app.askyo.ru/build)[Survey templates](https://askyo.ru/en/templates) ## Ranking question examples - Put these features in the order you want us to build them. - Rank what matters most when you choose a supplier: price, speed, quality, support. - Order these workshop topics from most to least useful for your job. - Rank the benefits by how much they would affect your decision to stay. ## Ranking vs rating: which to use | | Ranking | Rating scale | | ------ | ------------------------------ | ---------------- | | Answer | An order of items | A score per item | | Ties | Impossible | Common | | Shows | Relative priority | Absolute opinion | | Effort | Higher, grows with list length | Lower | Rate when you need to know whether something is good. Rank when you already know everything is fine and must choose what comes first. A ranking cannot tell you that all items are bad; the last place is still somebody’s least bad option. ## How to analyse ranking data ``` average rank = sum of positions given to an item ÷ number of respondents who ranked it lower average rank = higher priority ``` Add the first-place count next to the average: an item that half the people put first and half put last has a middling average but a very different story. For deeper analysis, compare average ranks between segments, such as new and long-standing customers. ## How many items can people rank? Four to seven works comfortably. Beyond about seven, people rank the top and bottom with care and shuffle the middle at random. For a list of 10 to 20 items use pairwise comparison, which only ever shows two at a time, or ask for the top three with a multiple choice question. ## Mistakes with ranking questions - Mixing items of different kinds (a feature, a price, a colour) in one list. - Reading average ranks as distances: first and second may be close, second and third far apart. - Not saying which end is the top (“1 = most important”). - Ranking items the respondent has never used, which produces confident-looking guesses. ## Ranking on a phone Dragging is the hard part on small screens, so keep item labels short enough to fit on one line and the list short enough to fit on one screen. If people have to scroll while holding an item, they settle for “good enough” and let go. Six short items is the comfortable ceiling for mobile traffic. ## Building it in Askyo The Ranking block needs at least two items and starts with four sample ones. Respondents drag items by the grip handle, on a phone with a finger; the list can also be sorted from the keyboard. Each item shows its current number. The answer is saved after the first drag, so a respondent who agrees with the starting order still has to move something. Analytics shows the average position of every item (the bars are inverted, so the top priority has the longest bar), how many times each came first, and any items left unranked. In the CSV export a response reads “1. Speed; 2. Price; …”. What you can set - the list of options ## Templates that already use it - «Put the features in order of importance to you» [Product review](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/product-feedback) [Feedback](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/category/feedback) - «Put your interests in order of priority» [B2B lead form](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/lead-b2b) [Leads and contacts](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/category/lead) - «What do you value most about working here? (drag to reorder)» [eNPS: employee loyalty](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/enps) [HR and team](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/category/hr) - «What should the school improve first? Drag to reorder» [Parent satisfaction with the school](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/school-satisfaction) [Education](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/category/education) - «What matters most when choosing a club? Drag to reorder» [Clubs and after-school activities: interest survey](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/extracurricular-interest) [Education](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/category/education) - «What are you looking forward to most at the next event? (drag to reorder)» [Event feedback](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/event-feedback) [Events](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/category/event) - «Put the features in order of importance to you» [UX interface research](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/ux-research) [Research](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/category/research) - «What matters to you when choosing? Drag from most to least important» [Customer expectations](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/customer-expectations) [Research](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/category/research) - «Put the selection factors in order from most to least important» [In-depth market research](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/market-research-deep) [Research](https://askyo.ru/en/templates/category/research) Frequently asked questions ## Ranking questions: common questions What is a ranking question in a survey? It is a question where respondents order a list of items by importance or preference instead of rating each one. Because each position can be used only once, the answers show clear priorities. It is used for roadmaps, purchase criteria and choosing between options. How do you calculate the average rank? Add up the positions an item received and divide by the number of respondents who ranked it. If three people put an item 1st, 2nd and 3rd, its average rank is 2. The lower the average, the higher the priority. Ranking or rating: which is better? Neither is better in general. Rating tells you how good each item is on its own; ranking tells you which comes first when you cannot have everything. Use ranking for prioritisation and rating for satisfaction or quality checks. Can respondents skip part of a ranking? In the Askyo block, the first drag saves the full order of the list, so every item gets a position. If you only care about the top three, say so in the question text and read only the first three positions when you analyse the results. ## Neighbouring types - [Pairwise comparison](https://askyo.ru/en/question-types/pairwise) - [Constant sum scale](https://askyo.ru/en/question-types/constant-sum) - [Employee survey](https://askyo.ru/en/employee-survey) - [Long answer](https://askyo.ru/en/question-types/long-text) - [Text block](https://askyo.ru/en/question-types/statement) - [Matrix](https://askyo.ru/en/question-types/matrix) - [Consent](https://askyo.ru/en/question-types/consent) - [Dropdown](https://askyo.ru/en/question-types/dropdown) - [Email](https://askyo.ru/en/question-types/email) - [All question types](https://askyo.ru/en/question-types) ## Build a survey with this question Give your team a ranked backlog instead of a list where every feature is “very important”. [Build a survey ](https://app.askyo.ru/build)[Survey templates](https://askyo.ru/en/templates)