Statements like "quality of care is more highly valued than waiting time" can neither be supported nor refuted by comparisons of utility parameters from a traditional discrete choice experiment (DCE). Best--worst scaling can overcome this problem because it asks respondents to perform a different choice task. However, whilst the nature of the best--worst task is generally understood, there are a number of issues relating to the design and analysis of a best--worst choice experiment that require further exposition. This paper illustrates how to aggregate and analyse such data and using a quality of life pilot study demonstrates how richer insights can be drawn by the use of best--worst tasks.