Counts, bases and percentages

Count, the bases and the three percentages are the metrics most tables are built from. Every percentage in DataTile is a count divided by a base, so knowing which respondents are in the base explains almost every number you see.

Count

Count (cnt) is the number of respondents in the cell: those who are in the row category and the column category, pass the filter and belong to the split. With a weight active, each respondent counts with their weight, so Count is the weighted number of respondents.

A respondent is counted once per cell. In a net (a group of categories) or in a multi-response row, a respondent who chose several of the categories is still counted once. To count the answers instead of respondents, use Count MR, see Multi-response metrics.

Sample Count

Sample Count (sct) is Count without weighting: the actual number of interviews behind the cell. Use it next to weighted results to see how many people a number rests on.

If the database has a weight under Force weighting of sample metrics (Project settings → Settings → Weights), Sample Count, Unweighted Base and Unweighted Horiz Base use that weight instead, whatever weight the user selected.

Vert Base and Horiz Base

Vert Base (vbs) is the base of a column: the respondents in that column who belong to the base of the row variable. A respondent is in the base of the row variable when:

they answered the row variable (when missing values are ignored, which is the default);
they meet the rebase condition of the row, if there is one;
they meet the rebase condition of the column, if there is one;
they pass the filter and belong to the split.

Horiz Base (hbs) is the mirror image: the respondents in a row who answered the column variable and meet both rebase conditions.

Because the row's rebase is part of Vert Base, rows with different rebases have different Vert Bases in the same column. If every row shares the same base, Vert Base is the same number on every row.

If missing values are counted (the Ignore sysmis option is off for the variable), respondents without an answer stay in the base.

Unweighted Base and Unweighted Horiz Base

Unweighted Base (sbs) and Unweighted Horiz Base (shb) are Vert Base and Horiz Base without weighting. Use them to check whether a base is large enough to report.

Vert%, Horiz% and Base%

Metric	Formula	Answers the question
Vert% (`vpt`)	Count ÷ Vert Base × 100	What share of this column is in this row? For example, what share of men prefer brand A.
Horiz% (`hpt`)	Count ÷ Horiz Base × 100	What share of this row is in this column? For example, what share of brand A's fans are men.
Base% (`bpt`)	Count ÷ total base × 100	What share of the whole table is in this cell?

The total base of Base% is everyone who belongs to the base of both variables: they answered the row variable and the column variable, and meet the rebase conditions of the row and the column. It is not the sum of the visible cells: hidden categories and nets do not change it.

Vert% cannot be switched off; it is the default metric of every new query.

Worked example

Ten respondents answered a gender question. Eight of them also answered "Which brand do you prefer?"; two (one man, one woman) skipped it.

Brand	Men (6)	Women (4)	Total
A	3	1	4
B	2	2	4
No answer	1	1	2

Crosstab with brand in rows and gender in columns, missing values ignored (default):

Row	Metric	Men	Women	Total
A	Count	3	1	4
	Vert Base	5	3	8
	Vert%	60%	33%	50%
	Horiz% (Horiz Base 4)	75%	25%	100%
	Base% (total base 8)	37.5%	12.5%	50%
B	Count	2	2	4
	Vert%	40%	67%	50%
	Base%	25%	25%	50%