contingency table: meaning, definition, pronunciation and examples

A pivot table can CREATE a contingency table (cross-tabulation) very easily, but pivot tables are more versatile tools that can also sum, average, and manipulate numerical data. So, while a specific layout of a pivot table may be a contingency table, the terms are not perfectly synonymous.

Yes. A table with two variables is called a two-way contingency table. With three or more variables, it becomes a multiway contingency table, though visualising it on a flat page becomes difficult; it's often represented as multiple two-way tables or analysed with advanced models.

A frequency table shows counts for the categories of a SINGLE variable. A contingency table shows counts for the COMBINATIONS of categories from TWO OR MORE variables, effectively showing how the frequency of one variable is distributed across the categories of another.

The Pearson chi-squared test of independence is the most common test. It uses the observed frequencies in the contingency table to determine if there is a statistically significant association between the two categorical variables.

A statistical table that displays the frequency distribution of categorical variables, showing how the frequencies of one variable are contingent on (or related to) the frequencies of another.

Contingency table is usually technical / academic in register.

Contingency table: in British English it is pronounced /kənˈtɪn.dʒən.si ˌteɪ.bəl/, and in American English it is pronounced /kənˈtɪn.dʒən.si ˌteɪ.bəl/. Tap the audio buttons above to hear it.