By design the ranking questions uses a drag and drop presentation; however, in some cases, you may wish to implement a simpler approach. 

An alternative approach is to use an Array (Numbers) type question, which allows you to use dropdowns for ranking.

The question has a validation that enforces unique responses across the dropdowns, and makes sure that all items are responded to (and thus ranked).

Things to note to set this up:

1) The work around will only work if you have 1 column in your Array (Numbers) question -- it will not work if you have multiple columns.

2) Subquestions:
a) y-scale = items to rank
b) x-scale = column heading -- in example, just set to the word "Rank".

3) Under Advanced settings: Logic
a) Question validation equation needs to be : unique(self) and count(self)==max(self)
b) Question validation tip : text that tells the participant how to correctly complete the question