Final answer:
Comparisons and swaps are the operations that make up most of the running time in sorting algorithms because they are performed repeatedly to determine the order and rearrange the elements.
Step-by-step explanation:
In sorting algorithms, the operations that typically make up the majority of the running time are comparisons and swapping elements. These operations are fundamental because they are performed repeatedly during the process of sorting. Comparisons are necessary to determine the order of elements, and swaps are required to actually rearrange the elements into the correct order.
While iteration is also a significant component of sorting algorithms, as it is the process of stepping through the data, each pass often involves multiple comparisons and possibly swaps, making these operations more significant. Randomization is not typically considered as an influencing factor in the runtime of traditional sorting algorithms, though it is used in some specific algorithms like Quick Sort to improve performance on average cases.