Simmons OneView: Running a Cross Tabulation

Hi! In this tutorial we're going to cover the basics of running and interpreting a cross tabulation of consumer data in Simmons OneView.

In order to run a cross tabulation, you should have access to Simmons OneView and should know how to select a specific study in the interface. If you are unfamiliar with how to do this, you can review the "Getting Started" tutorial.

Setting up our Crosstab

Before we run a crosstab we need to make sure we have chosen the correct study. Go to the study tab, select 'Spring 2013 NHCS Adult Study 12-month', and click 'OK'.

We're now ready to run a cross tab!

Setting up our Crosstab

Let's assume that we are marketing professionals working for a fast-food company. We're tasked with determining the best way to reach younger clientele over the internet.

We can run a cross tab to determine the best websites to advertise on based on the web searching habits of young fast-food customers. 

We will need to choose data related to the age, fast-food habits, and website consumption of our potential clientele.

Selecting our Data

All of the data in OneView is stored in categorized sets of questions and answers.

We can search and browse the sets of questions in order to select the appropriate answers from respondents to run our cross tab.

The answers we select will end up being our columns and rows.

Columns will contain data related to who we want to know more about (our target market).

Rows will contain data related to what we want to know about our target market.

Selecting our Data

Since we want to know about the websites used by young fast food customers, we need to make sure our columns indicate who our target market is.

In the questions box:

Click on arrow next to the LIFESTYLE (DEMOGRAPHICS) tab,

Now, click on the DEMOGRAPHICS (PERSONAL INFORMATION) tab.

Click on the AGE question.

You should notice that the box to the right of the tabs in now populated. These are the answers to the questions given by respondents.

Selecting our Data

Since we're interested in young clientele, scroll down and select 18-34. This chooses all of the respondents who are 18-34.

Make sure the 'Use Question Text along with Answer Text' box is checked.

Now drag the answer of 18-34 to the columns box to the right.

Your columns box should look like this:

Notice you have a sample of 5,494 respondents. This indicates that 5,494 included in the study are ages 18-34.

Selecting our Data

We now have data for a target market of 18-34 year-old respondents. BUT, we want to know about 18-34 year old fast food consumers. In order to do this we need to combine data points.

Go back to the questions box and select DINING, then FAST FOOD & DRIVE IN RESTAURANT. Choose the question FAST FOOD & DRIVE-IN RESTAURANT - USE?

Selecting our Data

We want to focus on fast food customers so drag the YES answer to the bottom section of the interface, the 'coding box' (see the image below) so we can combine it with our age respondents

To combine this with our selected age group, click 'AND' and then drag our AGE: 18 - 34 answer down from the Columns to that box.

Make sure to give it a descriptive name so it doesn't get confused with another data point.  For this example, we have named it "18-34 Fast Foodies."

Selecting our Data

You should now have a combined answer that looks like this:

Now move the combined answer to the column by clicking the 'Move to Columns' button.  Delete our other answer (Age 18 to 34) from the Columns box by selecting it and clicking 'delete' on your keyboard (right click and then select 'delete' on a Mac). 

Selecting our Data

Selecting our Rows:

Since we're interested in what websites our target market is interested in we can now add our row to complete the data selection for our cross tab.

Click on the INTERNET tab in the questions box.

Click on the WEBSITES tab.

Let's find out what websites our target market has used in the last 7 days by clicking on the ACTUAL WEBSITES USED/VISITED LST 7 DAYS  question.

Since we're not sure what websites our target market has visited, we can drag the entire question from the Questions box directly to the Rows box, and that will include answers for each of the websites used/visited in the last 7 days.

Running Your Crosstab

You should now have a set of Columns and Rows that looks like this:

Click 'Run Crosstab' to see what websites 18-34 year-old fast food eaters visit most.

Interpreting our Crosstab

You should now be looking at your crosstab table. Take a look at the table and notice the different types of output:

Notice there are two columns:

• Total refers the the entire sample of the study.
• The second column should be the name of the data set we selected in the Columns box in the previous interface. This is the column we should be focused on.

Interpreting our Crosstab

There are three pieces of information to pay special attention to: Vertical %, Horizontal %, and Index

• Vertical % calculates the percentage of the sample from the column that has the characteristic from the row.
• • For example, 28.5% of 18-34 year old fast food eaters visited amazon.com in the last 7 days.
• Horizontal % calculates the opposite; the percentage of the sample from the row that has the characteristic from the column.
• Index calculates the likelihood to meet our specific criteria in relation to the total population. The average will always equal 100. If we see 100, our target market is no more or less likely to meet the criteria.
• • For example, if a website has an index of 110, our target market is 10% more likely to have visited it than the total population.

Interpreting our Crosstab

When analyzing data, you might run into instances where you notice one or two asterisks (*) next to your data. Because of differing sample sizes, some data may be more or less stable and thus unreliable. Be mindful of results marked with an asterisk when making decisions based on Crosstab data.

Private Eye View and Rearranging Data

So far, we've been looking at our data in the 'Crosstab' view where all of the columns are displayed right next to one another. This can get confusing depending on how many columns you're analyzing.

To analyze one column at a time, select the 'Private Eye' view from the tab near the top of the table.

To change the column you're analyzing click on the drop down list and choose the column for our data.

Private Eye View and Rearranging Data

Sometimes it's beneficial to rearrange the data we're looking at.

Let's rearrange our data to see what website has the highest Vertical %:

Click on the downward facing arrow in the Vertical % column to sort the data in descending order. 

Private Eye View and Rearranging Data

It is also possible to deselect different data in order to make your table more legible.

This is done by deselecting the checked boxes next to the data point you don't want to see.

You will notice those numbers are no longer in your table.

Exporting Data

After you've run your cross tab, it is VITAL that you export your data into an excel or CSV file. The data will not save locally in the system so you must export EVERY TIME you run a cross tab or the data will be lost!

To export your data:

Click on the Export tab, select file type, click 'Export' and the file should begin downloading.

Wrapping Up: Tips for Data Selection

Because of the extensive amount of data available in OneView it's not always easy to browse through all of the tabs to find the data you need. There are a few features in OneView to make this easier: Search & Definitions

Wrapping Up: Tips for Data Selection

SEARCH:

In the 'Questions' box there is a tab that reveals a drop down menu allowing you to search for specific keywords in the data. You can choose between searching for Answers Only, Questions & Answers, and All.

NOTE- Be very careful when searching for questions and answers because the search feature will only return those with the keyword you chose! For example, if you were to search the keyword "cellphone" you would not see specific brands. In order to see them, you'll need to make sure to click 'clear'.

Wrapping Up: Tips for Data Selection

DEFINITIONS:

It is likely that you'll be frequently using the same demographics.  Instead of having to search for them or browse for them constantly, OneView has compiled a handy set of "Definitions" that can be used to access demographic data more efficiently.

Examples include: demographic data pertaining to gender, age, household income, etc...

Conclusion

In this tutorial, you have learned how to run and interpret a basic cross tabulation of consumer data in Simmons OneView.

Make sure you remember:

• Be mindful of the study you are using.
• Start with a question. This will influence your columns and rows.
• Columns will contain data related to who we want to know more about (our target market).
• Rows will contain data related to what we want to know about our target market.
• You can change the view and rearrange your crosstab table.
• EXPORT YOUR DATA

Now that you've got the hang of running a Cross Tab, let's take a look at how to generate Quick Reports to get more out of our Simmons OneView data. 

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