These tables put congregations into the categories of the two variables you have selected. These cross-tabulations are set up so that you can see how many congregations in each category listed on the left of the table have the characteristics identified along the top of the table. They should be read by reading "across" each line of the table. In this example, you can see how the length of a congregation's sermon breaks down for each different type of theological orientation. For example, the first line of this table says that 9.1 percent of theologically conservative congregations have sermons that are 10 minutes or less, 54.1 percent have sermons lasting from 11 to 30 minutes, and 36.8 percent have sermons exceeding 30 minutes.

You can also use these tables to examine differences between different types of congregations. This can be done by comparing a percentage from one line with the analogous percentage from a different line. In this example, 36.8 percent of the theologically conservative congregations have sermons longer than 30 minutes, while only 10.4 percent of theologically liberal congregations have sermons that long.

If the "significance" value at the bottom of the table is .05 or less, you may conclude with 95% confidence that the two variables in the table you are examining really are related to each other. If that significance value is larger than .05, there is better than a 5% chance that any differences in the table occur by chance and do not represent a real association between these two variables. In this example, the significance value is .0000, which is less than .05, so it is correct to say with 95% confidence that a congregation's theological orientation is related to the length of a typical sermon heard in that congregation.

To learn more about the variables you have selected, or to see the survey questions on which this information is based, you should search the questionnaire.

Click on any yellow highlighted portion of the table to view an explanation of that item.

	Length of sermon
Theological orientation	0 to 10 min.	11 to 30 min.	More than 30 min.	Row Total
MORE CONSERVATIVE	9.1%	54.1%	36.8%	59.3%   (706)
RIGHT IN MIDDLE	13.1%	53.8%	33.0%	29.5%   (351)
MORE LIBERAL	20.9%	68.7%	10.4%	11.3%   (134)
Column Totals	11.6%   (138)	55.7%   (663)	32.7%   (390)	100%   (1191)

Significance: .00000

Number of Missing Observations: 45