Assessment of multiple ordinal endpoints

Abstract

Ranking multivariate ordinal data and applying a non-parametric test is an analytical approach commonly employed to compare treatments. We study three types of ranking and demonstrate how to combine them. The ranking methods rest upon partial orders of the multidimensional measurements or upon the sum of ranks. Since their usage is simple as regards statistical assumptions and technical realization, they are also adapted for health professionals without deep statistical knowledge. Our goal is discussing differences between the approaches and disclosing possible statistical consequences of their usage.