Talk:Cross-sectional study

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I am in a class where the teacher is asking me to describe the cross-sectional views that can occur when cutting a rectangular prism and a cylinder. What should I do? This question is really confusing can you please help me?

A cross-sectional study has very little to do with an algebraic geometry question -- cross-sectional studies are done in the social sciences, not in mathematics. Try asking on the talk page at Cylinder (geometry) or at Cuboid...

Also, I encourage you to keep in mind, Wikipedia is not a homework advice service. (See WP:WIN.) How can you be sure that the answer you get here at Wikipedia will be a correct one, if you don't also think through the questions posed by your teacher on your own?

You may find it useful to read Wikipedia:Who writes Wikipedia and Wikipedia:Schools' FAQ. Mamawrites 16:07, 7 January 2006 (UTC)

It is better to keep the distinction going

I have studied a cross section of s stem as also that of a flower in my botony classes. These days I am engaged in consumer research which involves cross sectional sampling. Cross section means different things in these two different contexts. In the case of a stem we are just cutting a stem across and studing the profile of the stem from a different angle. This is a cross sectional study of the stem. The same could be done even in the case of social sciences, if we were to use census method. That would mean every single person or item is included in the study. Of course the census could be limited to a particular geographical area. On the contrary, when we do cross sectional analysis in social sciences, we take out a small sample from out of a large population in a way that the constituents of the sample represent the characteristics of the population being studied. I believe that there is therefore, adequate justification to keep these two concepts separate at least until academicians provide alternative terminologies that do not appear to mean the same.