Jethro G.

Cadayday

MT 41 – I (LAB)

What is Cross Tabulation Analysis (Descriptive Analysis)?

A cross-tabulation analysis is like a frequency table, but you are comparing two categorical variables.
The table for cross-tabulation analysis displays the independent variables as column heads, while the
dependent variable as row names. Cross-tabulation usually uses nominal or ordinal data (Cross-
Tabulation, 2019; Kent State University, 2018b).

Is cross-tabulation descriptive statistics?

Cross tabulation is descriptive statistics because the table is only limited to providing percentages and
quantities. Unlike inferential statistics, it does not test your hypothesis or give a relationship between
the two categorical variables (Hightower & Scott, 2012).

What is meant by cross-tabulation? Give an example

To cross-tabulate means that you set up a table to compare two categorical variables. The variables can
be measured as numbers but in nominal and ordinal levels. Also, there should be two or more
categories for each variable. You add another row and column for the totals (Kent State University,
2018b).

An example of cross-tabulation is a table about how many students have laptops for your online class.
Your students are independent variables displayed on the column heads, and gender – male and female
students - subdivides them.

On the other hand, having laptops is displayed as row names, which are subdivided into "with laptops"
and "without laptops". Each cell represents the number of observations between the row variable and
column variable.

There can be 10 male students and 5 female students with laptops in this situation, and there are 8 male
students and 3 female students without laptops. In total, there are 15 students with laptops and 11
students without laptops.

How do you know if a crosstab is statistically significant?

To determine statistical significance in a sample falls under inferential statistics. With a cross-tabulation
table alone, you cannot determine the statistical significance because cross-tabulation is descriptive
statistics. You must apply chi-square statistics on a cross-tabulation table to know the statistical
significance of the two categorical variables (Hightower & Scott, 2012).

What are cross-tabulation and chi-square?

Cross-tabulation and chi-square tests are both statistical tools used in research. However, cross-
tabulation is a descriptive statistical tool that only provides percentages and quantities. Meanwhile, the
chi-square test is an inferential statistical tool that determines the statistical significance of your cross-
tabulation (Kent State University, 2018a).
Is cross-tabulation chi-square?

No, cross-tabulation and chi-square test are two different statistical tools, but you must create a cross-
tabulation of your data before performing the chi-square test (Kent State University, 2018a).

How do you interpret chi-square results?

There are two ways to interpret chi-square test results. First, you can use the chi-square test statistic,
and if the test statistic is greater than the critical value, you reject the null hypothesis. Lastly, you can
use the p-value, and if the p-value is less than the chosen significance level (i.e., a=0.05), you reject the
null hypothesis (Kent State University, 2018a).

References:

Cross-Tabulation. (2019, November 27). Statistics LibreTexts.

https://stats.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Applied_Statistics/Book
%3A_Quantitative_Research_Methods_for_Political_Science_Public_Policy_and_Public_Adminis
tration_(Jenkins-Smith_et_al.)/06%3A_Association_of_Variables/6.01%3A_Cross-
Tabulation#title

Hightower, C., & Scott, K. (2012). Infer more, describe less: More powerful survey conclusions through
easy inferential tests. Issues in Science and Technology Leadership.
https://doi.org/10.5062/F45H7D64

Kent State University. (2018a). LibGuides: SPSS Tutorials: Chi-Square Test of Independence. Kent.edu.
https://libguides.library.kent.edu/spss/chisquare

Kent State University. (2018b). SPSS tutorials: Crosstabs. Kent.edu.

https://libguides.library.kent.edu/spss/crosstabs