Table of Contents
Definition of Cross-sectional Analysis
(noun) The analysis of data collected from a single moment in time.
Example of Cross-sectional Analysis
- Analyzing the data from the United States census to understand emerging demographic trends.
Cross-sectional Analysis Pronunciation
Syllabification: cross sec·tion·al a·nal·y·sis
Audio Pronunciation
Phonetic Spelling
- American English – /krAWs-sEk-shuh-nuhl uh-nAl-uh-sis/
- British English – /kros-sEk-shuh-nuhl uh-nAl-i-sis/
International Phonetic Alphabet
- American English – /krɔs-ˈsɛkʃənəl əˈnæləsəs/
- British English – /krɒs-ˈsɛkʃnəl əˈnæləsɪs/
Usage Notes
- Plural: cross-sectional analyses
- Variant spelling:
- cross sectional analysis
- crosssectional analysis
- Also called synchronic analysis.
Additional Information
- Quantitative Research Resources – Books, Journals, and Helpful Links
- Word origin of “cross” and “section” and “analysis” – Online Etymology Dictionary: etymonline.com
Related Terms
- correlation
- data
- random sample
- reliability
- spurious correlation
- statistics
- statistical analysis
- survey
Contributor: C. E. Seaman
Works Consulted
Babbie, Earl. 2013. The Practice of Social Research. 13th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Bryman, Alan. 2012. Social Research Methods. 4th ed. New York: Oxford University Press.
Burdess, Neil. 2010. Starting Statistics: A Short, Clear Guide. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
Cramer, Duncan, and Dennis Howitt. 2004. The SAGE Dictionary of Statistics: A Practical Resource for Students in the Social Sciences. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
Farlex. (N.d.) TheFreeDictionary.com: Dictionary, Encyclopedia and Thesaurus. Farlex. (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/).
Fioramonti, Lorenzo. 2014. How Numbers Rule the World: The Use and Abuse of Statistics in Global Politics. London: Zed Books.
Larson, Ron, and Elizabeth Farber. 2015. Elementary Statistics: Picturing the World. 6th ed. Boston: Pearson.
Oxford University Press. (N.d.) Oxford Dictionaries. (https://www.oxforddictionaries.com/).
Salkind, Neil J., ed. 2007. Encyclopedia of Measurement and Statistics. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
Taylor & Francis. (N.d.) Routledge Handbooks Online. (https://www.routledgehandbooks.com/).
Weinstein, Jay A. 2010. Applying Social Statistics: An Introduction to Quantitative Reasoning in Sociology. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
Wikipedia contributors. (N.d.) Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. (https://en.wikipedia.org/).
Cite the Definition of Cross-sectional Analysis
ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)
Seaman, C. E. 2015. “cross-sectional analysis.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary, edited by Kenton Bell. Retrieved April 23, 2024 (https://sociologydictionary.org/cross-sectional-analysis/).
APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)
Seaman, C. E. (2015). cross-sectional analysis. In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/cross-sectional-analysis/
Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)
Seaman, C. E. 2015. “cross-sectional analysis.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary, edited by Kenton Bell. Accessed April 23, 2024. https://sociologydictionary.org/cross-sectional-analysis/.
MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)
Seaman, C. E. “cross-sectional analysis.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2015. Web. 23 Apr. 2024. <https://sociologydictionary.org/cross-sectional-analysis/>.