1/13/2020

Bivariate analysis: cross-table

and Chi-square test
Prof. Dr. Rubeena Zakar, MBBS, MPS,
PhD

Outline

• What is a bivariate/bivariable analysis?

• Statistical techniques for bivariate analysis
• Questions relevant to bivariate analysis
• Some hints about selection of variables

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Bivariate analysis
• Bivariate analysis is a kind of data analysis that
explores the association between two
variables (X, Y).
or
• Bivariate analysis is the simultaneous analysis
of two variables

Bivariate analysis: Examples

• Does the average score of the examinations differ by sex of
the students?
• Is the association between education and income
significant?
• Are years of experience related with income of the people
working in an industry?
• Are status of drinking alcohol associated with number of
auto accidents?
• Are full-time workers more likely to be unionized than part-
time workers?
• Is there any association between BMI and high blood
• pressure?

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• Depend on the composition of the pair of

variables:
o Are both variables qualitative?
o Are both variables quantitative?
o Is one qualitative and another quantitative?
o Are both variables ordinal?
o Is one variable dichotomous and one continuous

Bivariate analysis
• Statistical techniques for bivariate analysis
depend on:
– measurement scales of the variables
and
– distinction between dependent and independent
variables.

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Bivariate analysis: Statistical

techniques

Bivariate analysis

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Cross table
• Cross table is a two-way table consisting of rows
and columns
• Typically used to determine whether there is a
relation between row variables and column
variables
• As a basic rule, independent variable is on the X-
axis while the dependent variable is located on
the Y-axis
• Normally they have a grand total, row totals,
column totals, cell value

Statistical test for bivariate association

Depend on the composition of the pair of
variables:
– Are both variables qualitative?
– Are both variables quantitative?
– Is one qualitative and another quantitative?
– Are both variables ordinal?
– Is one variable dichotomous and one continuous

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Statistical test for bivariate association

• Two qualitative variables
– Use cross table and apply chi-square test
• Two quantitative variables
– Use a correlation matrix and apply Pearson’s
correlation co-efficient (r)
• One qualitative and one quantitative variable
– Use a comparison of means and apply t-test

Hypothesis
• Null hypothesis (H0): The two variables are
independent (not associated)
• Alternative hypothesis (H1): The two variables
are dependent (associated)
• Note: Rejection of null hypothesis means
acceptance of alternative hypothesis

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Example of cross table

Chi-qaudrat-tests

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Chi-square statistics
• Examine a bivariate relationship using two
qualitative variables
• Perform a cross-table analysis and check the
chi-square statistic
• Interpret the Chi-square statistic
• Are they related?

Statistical significance

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Example: Cross table (hypothetical)

Percentage in a table

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Percentage in a table

Percentage in a table

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Example: Cross table (hypothetical)

Selection of variable
• We should select only those independent
variables which may:
– Have some causal effect on the dependent
variable
– Be correlated with each other

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Guidelines
• Select dependent (outcome) variable with possible categories (maximum
3 categories).
• Choose potential independent variables (10-20 variables) from your data
set which may be logically associated with your outcomevariable.
• Recode your variables (if necessary) with meaningful categories (not many
categories).
• Perform cross-table (bivariable) analyses to check the association of
independent variable with dependent variable. If the p-value (based on
Chi-square test) is ≤0.20 for any association, choose this variable for
further analyses.
• If there are many variables which fulfill your inclusion criteria (i.e. p≤0.20),
select around 15 variables which are more important.
• Perform multivariable analysis for your outcome variable (next class). Use
both graphs and tables to present your findings. All graphs and tables
should be self-explanatory with basic information.
• Save the syntax of your analyses

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