cross-sectional data

Definition of Cross-sectional Data

(noun) Data gathered at a specific moment or a “snap shot” in time.

Example of Cross-sectional Data

• The United States census.
  

Cross-sectional Data Pronunciation

Pronunciation Usage Guide

Syllabification: cross sec·tion·al da·ta

Audio Pronunciation

International Phonetic Alphabet

• American English – /krɔs-ˈsɛkʃənəl ˈdeɪtə/
• British English – /krɒs-ˈsɛkʃnəl ˈdeɪtə/

Usage Notes

• Plural: cross-sectional data
  • Note: The term data is plural, the singular form is datum.
• Variant spellings:
  • cross sectional data
  • crosssectional data
• Also called period data.

Additional Information

• Quantitative Research Resources – Books, Journals, and Helpful Links
• Word origin of “cross” and “sectional” and “data” – Online Etymology Dictionary: etymonline.com

Related Terms

• data
• data analysis
• data file
• data item
• data point
• data set
• data source
• qualitative research
• quantitative research
• research
• statistics

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.

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/).

Wikipedia contributors. (N.d.) Wiktionary, The Free Dictionary. Wikimedia Foundation. (http://en.wiktionary.org).

Wiley. (N.d.) Wiley Online Library. (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/).

Cite the Definition of Cross-sectional Data

ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)

Seaman, C. E. 2015. “cross-sectional data.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary, edited by Kenton Bell. Retrieved January 16, 2025 (https://sociologydictionary.org/cross-sectional-data/).

APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)

Seaman, C. E. (2015). cross-sectional data. In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/cross-sectional-data/

Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)

Seaman, C. E. 2015. “cross-sectional data.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary, edited by Kenton Bell. Accessed January 16, 2025. https://sociologydictionary.org/cross-sectional-data/.

MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)

Seaman, C. E. “cross-sectional data.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2015. Web. 16 Jan. 2025. <https://sociologydictionary.org/cross-sectional-data/>.