Crosstabs (short for cross tabulations) allow you to analyse how responses to one question differ across groups defined by another variable. They are one of the most effective ways to move beyond top-line results and understand who is driving differences in your data.

Rather than looking at one result in isolation, crosstabs help you examine relationships between variables, such as how age, behaviour, or market relates to a specific response.

What are crosstabs?

A crosstab (short for cross tabulation) is a table-based view that breaks results down by one or more variables.

A typical crosstab shows:

the total result for a question
results split by one or more groups, such as demographics, segments, answers, waves, or audiences

Crosstabs are designed for detailed comparison and validation. They use the same splits as charts, but present the data in a table format rather than a visual one.

When to use crosstabs

Crosstabs are most useful when you want to:

compare responses across multiple groups at the same time
test hypotheses about differences between audiences
analyse how behaviour or attitudes vary by market or wave
inspect results in more detail than charts allow

They are particularly helpful once you move past initial exploration and want to validate patterns you’ve already spotted.

Creating a crosstab

Crosstabs are created from the results dashboard using splits.

First, choose which data you want to analyse. If your survey includes multiple waves or audiences, select the relevant ones before adding splits.

Next, add one or more splits from the panel on the left-hand side. Splits can be based on:

demographics
answers to questions
custom segments
waves
audiences

Once splits are added, you can choose to view the results as a crosstab table.

Splits can also be visualised as charts instead of tables. Charts are useful for quickly spotting patterns or presenting results, while crosstabs are better suited to detailed comparison. For more detail, see Choosing how to visualise your results.

Using stacked crosstabs for more advanced analysis

For more complex analysis, you can add a stacked variable. A stacked crosstab adds a top-level dimension, such as country or wave, and nests other splits beneath it. This allows you to compare groups within each market or time period in a single view.

For example, you might:

compare age groups within each country
analyse segment differences across multiple waves

Stacked crosstabs are most useful for larger multi-market or multi-wave studies.

Interpreting crosstab results

As with any segmented analysis, interpretation requires care. Small differences between groups may fall within normal variation, especially when subgroup sizes are small. Larger or consistent differences across questions, markets, or waves are more likely to be meaningful.

Statistical significance can help highlight differences that are unlikely to be due to chance. You can:

show or hide statistical significance
adjust the confidence level
choose what results are compared against (for example, total or a specific column)

Exporting crosstab data

Crosstab results can be exported for further analysis or sharing.

You can:

export all questions in a single Excel file
copy the data for a specific question to use in another tool

Exports include totals and splits, making it easier to work with results outside the platform.

FAQ

What is the difference between standard and stacked crosstabs?

Standard crosstabs display results in a matrix format, with answers as rows and selected variables as columns.
Stacked crosstabs add an additional top-level variable, creating two header rows and allowing you to analyse how subgroups differ within another dimension (for example, age within country).

What is the subtotal column in stacked crosstabs?

The subtotal column shows the result for the top-level variable before any sub-variables are applied.

For example, if your top variable is country and your sub-variables are age and gender, the subtotal under each country shows the overall result for that country, making it easier to see whether differences between subgroups are large or relatively small.

How do I add a crosstab to a board?

Create the crosstab on the results dashboard and select Save to board. The crosstab will be added to the board, although editing options may be more limited than on the results page.