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Break a survey metric down by segment and verify the numbers before reporting them. This example has been tested and validated with Claude.

When to use this:

  • A stakeholder asks whether a result holds for a specific segment. 
  • A metric needs comparison across plan tiers or company sizes. 
  • A topline number feels like it’s hiding something once you consider who’s behind it.
This prompt handles rating-scale, yes/no, and other categorical outcomes. For open-ended responses that need to be themed first, see the advanced cross-tab guide.
For a detailed walkthrough of plain vs. engineered prompts on the same dataset, including a side-by-side comparison of where a plain prompt silently under-reports by 7–17 percentage points, see the full cross-tab guide.

Prompt

Replace [OUTCOME VARIABLE], [SEGMENT VARIABLE(S)], and [N] with your own column names and threshold.

Setup

Code execution must be enabled for step 4’s verification to run. It’s on by default for Team and Enterprise accounts. Free, Pro, and Max users: enable it under Settings > Capabilities.
If your survey data lives in Sprig, skip the export, the Sprig MCP connects live surveys and responses directly into Claude so the analysis runs on current data.

How it works

1

Cross-tabulate

Compares your outcome variable across each segment. Rating-scale outcomes return a mean and full distribution. Categorical outcomes return counts and row percentages.
2

Exclude non-responses

Missing, blank, and non-response values, including markers like “SKIPPED”,  are dropped before any calculation runs. This is explicit in the prompt, not left to default handling.
3

Flag thin cells

Any segment cell below your threshold (e.g., 10 respondents) is flagged, including cells with zero respondents. The total flagged count is computed from the full table at once, not assembled from parts.
4

Independent verification

Every number is recomputed using a genuinely different method before it’s reported. Re-running the same calculation doesn’t qualify as a check.
5

Plain-language summary

2–3 patterns, with explicit notes on which differences are meaningful versus likely noise given the sample size.
6

Exportable table

The final table is saved as a downloadable image, formatted for quick reading.

Verify your own results

The built-in checks catch a lot, but spot-check before you publish or present:
  • Do group sizes add up? Sum the segment counts and compare to your full dataset.
  • Does at least one number match a manual check? Run a filter or pivot table on one percentage or mean.
  • Are any segments very small? Treat anything reported for them as unreliable, even if not explicitly flagged.
A calculation that runs without an error isn’t the same as one that’s correct. Ask explicitly what should and shouldn’t be excluded,  don’t rely on an absence of errors as confirmation.