When Assigning Ranks During a Wilcoxon Rank-Sum Test, Tied Values

Multiple Choice

When assigning ranks during a Wilcoxon rank-sum test, tied values are each given the mean of the next ranks to be assigned. Which of the following statements about this averaging procedure is false?

A) The procedure is crucial when the tied values belong to the same sample.
B) Although still employed, the procedure is not crucial (and an arbitrary assignment of ranks to tied values would be acceptable) when the tied values belong to the same sample.
C) The procedure is designed to avoid arbitrariness. [In the absence of this procedure, depending on whether one rank (say, 4) was assigned to sample 1 figure and the next rank (say, 5) to sample 2 or whether rank 5 went to sample figure and 4 to sample 2, we would produce a different sum of ranks for the two samples.]
D) Although still employed, the procedure is not crucial (and an arbitrary assignment of ranks to tied values would be acceptable) when the tied values belong to the same sample and the procedure is designed to avoid arbitrariness. [In the absence of this procedure, depending on whether one rank (say, 4) was assigned to sample 1 figure and the next rank (say, 5) to sample 2 or whether rank 5 went to sample figure and 4 to sample 2, we would produce a different sum of ranks for the two samples.]
E) They are all false.