Table Types

(1). simple and complex table: The difference between simple and complex table is totally depending upon the number of characteristics studied. In simple table only one characteristic is displayed. Hence, this type of table is also termed as one-way table. In a complex table, on another hand, two or more characteristics are shown.

(i) Simple table or one-way table: In this kind of table only one characteristics is displayed. This is the simplest type of table. The following is the illustration of such table:

Number of employees in state bank according to age group

(ii) Two-way table: Such table shows two characteristics and is formed when either the stub or the caption is divided into two coordinate parts. The following example illustrates the nature of such a table:

Number or employees of state bank in different age-groups according to sex
     
Employees

Higher order table:  when three or more characteristics are represented in the same table, such a table is termed as higher order table. The requirement for such a table arises when we are interested in presenting a number of characteristics simultaneously. While making such a table it is necessary to first establish an order of precedence among the attributes or characteristics sought to be classified having regard to their relative importance.

It must be remembered that as the number of characteristics represented increases, the table becomes more and more confusing and as such generally not more than four characteristics should be represented in the same table. Where more than four characteristics are to be represented we can have more than one table depicting the relationship between the attributes. In the following two illustrations, three and four characteristics are represented respectively.

2. General and special purpose tables: The general purpose tables are also termed as reference tables or repository tables, it provide information for general use or reference. They usually contain detailed information and are not constructed for the specific discussion. In another words, these tables serve as the repository of information and are mostly of this type, like the tables contained in the statistical abstract of the Indian union, detailed tables contained in the census reports, etc. such type of tables tell the facts which are not for usually placed in the appendix of the reports for easy reference.