In the order of (what most people have recommended) [closed]

Question

I asked three people to list the items that they think are most important for something.

PERSON A             PERSON B             PERSON C
Item "aaa111"        Item "bbb222"        Item "bbb222"
Item "bbb222"        Item "eee555"        Item "ccc333"
Item "ccc333"        Item "fff666"        Item "ggg777"
Item "ddd444"

Since some items appear on more than one person's list, those items are obviously the most important ones, so I have compiled this list, which puts the item most frequently named on top, the next-most-frequently named second, and so forth:

Item "bbb222"
Item "ccc333"
Item "aaa111"
Item "ddd444"
Item "eee555"
Item "fff666"
Item "ggg777"

I want to head this list with a caption of the form Combined list in the order of __.

My question: Is there a single word I can use in that blank to name my ordering principle?

Answer 1

In the order of popularity.

Other words might be

• acceptability
• approval
• rank ("In rank order")

Popularity suggests that the choices were made subjectively. The other words allow for there to have been some sort of objective recommendation process.

UPDATE

I'll add "ranking" just to generalize and address the ambiguously stated method for performing the ranking. Thus:

In the order of ranking.

Alternatively:

In ranked order.

Answer 2

I don't know the exact mathematical procedure whereby OP arrived at his final list, but I don't think that matters. It looks like a weighted preference voting scheme.

Note that the simplest algorithm for such a scheme would imply each list being the same length. Say everyone produces a list of three items. Then you can award 3 points for each item each time it comes first in someones's list, 2 if it's second, and 1 if it's third.

Sum all the points for each item, and that gives you the final list. But note you might get a different "final combined" list if you award 2, 1, 0 points instead of 3, 2, 1, depending on the actual lists.

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So I'd say that final list is in the order of weighted preference.