Engl 2053-Tabulation Example

English 2053: Tabulation Example

As an example, suppose you had created a questionnaire with five questions about toothpaste preferences.

Are you [ ] male or [ ] female
Are you [ ] younger than 19 [ ] 19-30 [ ] older than 30
Do you use toothpaste [ ] no more than once a day [ ] more than once a day.
Do you use [ ] regular toothpaste [ ] toothpaste with additives for whitening or tartar control
Do you use toothpaste in a [ ] tube [ ] pump dispenser

I would suggest that you physically divide your response into two piles: male and female. Then I suggest you divide each of those piles into three piles relating to age groups. Then tabulate the answers to questions 3-5 for each of these six groups.

The following is a sample tabulation of 35 fictional responses to the qeustionnaire above:

Table 1: Male and Female Toothpaste Use By Age (raw numbers)

Male						Female
under 19		19-30		over 30		under 19		19-30		over 30
1 or less	2 or more	1 or less	2 or more	1 or less	2 or more	1 or less	2 or more	1 or less	2 or more	1 or less	2 or more
2	7	1	7	0	3	1	5	2	3	0	4
reg	add	reg	add	reg	add	reg	add	reg	add	reg	add
3	6	4	4	2	1	1	5	1	4	2	2
tube	pump	tube	pump	tube	pump	tube	pump	tube	pump	tube	pump
5	4	5	2	2	1	4	2	4	1	3	1

In general, however, percentages are more informative than raw numbers.

Table 2: Male and Female Toothpaste Use By Age (percentages)

Male						Female
under 19		19-30		over 30		under 19		19-30		over 30
1 or less	2 or more	1 or less	2 or more	1 or less	2 or more	1 or less	2 or more	1 or less	2 or more	1 or less	2 or more
22	78	13	87	0	100	17	83	40	60	0	100
reg	add	reg	add	reg	add	reg	add	reg	add	reg	add
33	67	50	50	67	33	17	83	20	80	50	50
tube	pump	tube	pump	tube	pump	tube	pump	tube	pump	tube	pump
56	44	71	29	67	33	67	33	80	20	75	25

Sometimes it is useful to combine information in different ways.

Table 3: Toothpaste Use By Age (percentages)

under 19		19-30		over 30
1 or less	2 or more	1 or less	2 or more	1 or less	2 or more
20	80	23	77	0	100
reg	add	reg	add	reg	add
27	73	38	62	57	43
tube	pump	tube	pump	tube	pump
60	40	75	25	71	29

Table 4: Toothpaste Use (percentages)

1 or less	2 or more
17	83
regular	additive
37	63
tube	pump
66	34

Often it is not necessary to include percentages for both choices. In this case just listing the percentage of people who brush more than once a day makes it easier to compare age groups without losing any important information.

Table 5: Frequency of Toothpaste Use by Age Group (percentage)

under 19	19-30	over 30
2 or more	2 or more	2 or more
80	77	100
additive	additive	additive
73	62	43
pump	pump	pump
40	25	29

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updated: January 13, 2000