What is a crosstab?

A crosstab is a type of table that displays the relationship between two or more variables. It is also known as a contingency table or cross tabulation. Crosstabs are used in statistics to measure and analyze the relationship between different variables. Additionally, they can be used to compare frequencies and proportions of different variables.

‍Example of a crosstab with two variables‍

The table below is a crosstab that shows by Generation whether somebody has moved or changed residence in the last 12 months. This table shows the number of observations with each combination of possible values of the two variables in each cell of the table.  It shows that 100 people are Gen Z  that have moved or change residence.  Column percentages are also shown (these are percentages within the columns, so that each column’s percentages add up to 100%); for example, 8.7% of all people that have moved or changed residence are Gen Z in the sample.

Crosstab showing Change of Residence by Generations

The Generation distribution for people who moved or changed residence is different from the people that did not.  In other words, the crosstab reveals a relationship between the two: people that moved or changed residence are more likely to be a younger generation.  Thus, we can also say that the variables used to create this table are correlated. If there were no relationship between these two categorical variables, we would say that they were not correlated.‍

Crosstabs with more than two variables

Crosstabs often contain more than two variables to show insights. For example, the table below shows four variables. The rows represent one categorical variable, which records beer consumption, and the columns represent age and income-within-gender.

Tips for Using Crosstabs

Here are a few tips for using crosstabs:

• Choose the right variables. The variables you choose will affect the results.
• Choose the right categories. The categories you choose will affect the results.
• Use a reliable software program. There are many different software programs that can be used to create crosstabs. Choose a software program like mTab that is reliable and that will produce the results you want.
• Interpret your results. The results of a crosstab can be interpreted to compare two or more variables, to identify trends, and to make predictions.

Crosstabs are primarily used in market research

Crosstabs are commonly used in fields such as market research, social science, and healthcare to explore relationships between variables and identify patterns and trends in data. Crosstabs are easy to set up using crosstab software. And they’re easy to understand since they present large amounts of data in a logical and compact table