David,

You are right of course about sample data.....

I've put some data up on Pastebin here http://pastebin.com/EtVnjiYv

As for an example of an expected result from the above :
- Order individual test results asc/desc as required, so you end up for example with for test1 as shown on paste bin under "sort result for test 1"
- Count the number of times each factor appears in an ordered position (e.g as shown by "SORT LOCATIONS FOR TEST 1", I would expect to see  a+ shown as appearing twice in first position, y+ twice in second etc. etc.)

Hope this helps !

Tim