A table groups survey responses by team and answer. The same cell can be a share of its row or a share of its column, producing different percentages without changing the count.
Give one cell two denominators
Suppose ten people in Team A choose “yes”. Team A has twenty respondents, while thirty respondents across all teams choose “yes”. Ten is 50% of Team A and about 33.3% of all yes responses. These are invented counts illustrating two different questions.
Read the label before the colour
“Percent within team” points to the row total if teams occupy rows. “Percent of yes responses” points to the yes column total. Reversing the table layout does not change the underlying question, so labels are safer than remembering a direction on the page.
Before comparing highlighted cells, verify that their denominators follow the same rule. Include counts when possible, especially for small groups. A strongly coloured percentage can look substantial even when it represents only a few observations. The denominator tells readers what population the cell actually describes.