MRI-Simmons Catalyst: Crosstab

Note: these instructions are for the new 2.0 version of MRI-Simmons.

Crossstab lets you find specific insights on a target (people that you want to study), or compare variables on multiple targets.

For this example, we're going to look at people who drink Mountain Dew by the following age groups: 18-24 years, 25-34 years, 35-49 years, and ages 50+.

1. Getting Started

• From the Analyze menu, select Crosstab. This will open the Composer window where we can build the elements of our crosstab.
• Select the study you want to use. The most recent study will be selected by default, but you can change this by clicking the dropdown menu.

2. Add the Target Audience to Columns

• Browse by category to search for a product, brand, or interest. Click on an arrow to open up the subcategories, then click into a subcategory to view the brands or users associated with it. OR you can use the search box.
• To add Mountain Dew drinkers to the columns:
  • Click on Beverages - Other Regular Carbonated Soft Drinks.
  • Then Brand. From the list, select Mtn Dew (i.e., Mountain Dew) then click ADD.
  • Click ADD TO COLUMNS, or drag Mtn Dew to the Columns box.
  • You may want to edit/modify the label(s) of items for easier reading the spreadsheet later. You can edit the name under the 3 dots on the right.
     

3. Add What You Want to Know About your Target Audience to Rows

• We want to about customers in different age groups.
• Click on Demographics.
• Click on Respondent, and choose Age Summary (Age Summary has ranges in broader categories than Age.)
• From the list of ages/age ranges, select 18-24, 25-34, 35-49, and 50+, then click ADD. Then click ADD TO ROWS or drag them to the Rows box.

4. Run Crosstab

• Click Run Report.
• To export the report, click the three dots in the top right corner, and select in what format you would like to download your report.

5. Interpret Your Crosstab 
The most significant data in the results is the index. This data tells you the product, brand, or media usage compared to the average. The base number for comparison is 100 (100 = average.)  A number above 100 is greater than average, and below 100 is less than average.

    < 80 less likely

    >120 more likely

Looking across the rows and columns in the example, notice that 25-34 year olds are (161-100) 61% more likely to drink Mountain Dew, compared to all adults that took the survey. Also, note that 50+ adults are (100-57) 43% less likely to drink Mountain Dew.

The other numbers:

Unweighted: The number of people surveyed who meet both the column and row criteria.

Weighted (000): Expressed in thousands, the projected number of adults (18+) in the U.S. who meet both the column and row criteria.

Vertical %: The percent of the column reached by the row (i.e., 29.04% of adults who drink Mountain Dew are 25-34 years old.)

Horizontal %: The percent of the row reached by the column (i.e., 11.19% of adults 25-34 years old drink Mountain Dew.)

For more about understanding crosstab results, see the PDF document, "How to Interpret Crosstab Data", in the right-hand column.