When Assigning Ranks During a Wilcoxon Rank Sum Test, Tied

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 is NOT correct regarding this averaging procedure?

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.