Grid tables are a special sort of table whose specification invariably uses symbolic parameters. Normally, the condition determining whether or not a respondent is eligible for inclusion in a cell is the same for all cells in a given row. In the axis sex, for example, all men are included in the first row and all women in the second. There is usually one condition for all cells in a given column as well.

With grid tables, the conditions for a row or column vary from cell to cell, so you can use symbolic parameters to refer to the data columns and/or codes for each cell. Values are then assigned to these parameters via n01 statements in the axis.

Grid tables are easily recognizable in a questionnaire because in many cases the questionnaire contains a chart on which the interviewer is to record the responses, with the rows of the chart being the rows required on the table, and the columns being the same as the columns required in the table. In your output, you might want to reproduce this chart with the only difference being that on the questionnaire you see the codes representing each answer whereas on your table you will see the number of people giving each response. Typical questions are ones dealing with rating scales.