Within table, vertically align top of a list and normal text in horizontally adjacent cells

Question

I am making a table where two of the columns constitute a pros/ cons list. I have created a custom list environment with minimal white space around it for this purpose. However, I still find that the top of the lists are rendered a little below the corresponding normal text in the Methods column to their left. Based on the diagram here, I thought this would be accomplished with \topsep=0em \parsep=0em \partopsep=0em but that still leaves a vertical discontinuity.

Below is a MWE example of where I am currently, along with the output. Can someone tell me how to modify this to vertically align tops of the list text and normal text, e.g. align "One downside" with "First method name" and "Good results" with "Second method."

\documentclass[12pt, oneside]{report} 
\renewcommand{\baselinestretch}{1.2}
\usepackage[letterpaper,includehead,left=3.25cm,right=2.5cm,top=2.5cm,headsep=1.5cm,headheight=0.0cm,bottom=2.5cm,footskip=1.0cm]{geometry} 

\usepackage[english]{babel}

\usepackage{booktabs}
\usepackage{multirow}
\usepackage{tabularx}
\usepackage{array}

\newenvironment{compactlist}{ % List with minimal white space to fit in small areas, e.g. table cell
    \begin{list}{$\bullet$}{\leftmargin=0.5em \rightmargin=0em \topsep=0em \parskip=0em \parsep=0em \listparindent=0em \partopsep=0em \itemsep=0pt \itemindent=0em \labelwidth=\leftmargin\labelsep+0.25em}
}{
    \end{list}
}

\begin{document}

\begin{table}[htpb]
\centering
\footnotesize

\begin{tabular}{ p{2cm} | p{3cm} | p{4cm}  | p{4cm}}
\toprule
\cmidrule(r){1-2}

\centering \textbf{Class} & \textbf{Method} & \textbf{Pros} & \textbf{Cons} \\
\midrule

\multirow{2}{*}{\begin{minipage}[c]{\linewidth}\centering \textbf{Class 1 name}\end{minipage}} 

& First method name with linebreak
& \begin{compactlist}
        \item One downside
\end{compactlist}
& \begin{compactlist}
        \item Another downside with longer text to create a linebreak or two
\end{compactlist} \\

& Second method
&  \begin{compactlist}
        \item Good results
        \item Fast
\end{compactlist}
& \begin{compactlist}
        \item Expensive
\end{compactlist} \\ 
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}
\end{table}
\end{document}

Answer 1

You should enclose the list within a \minipage:

\newenvironment{compactlist}{ % List with minimal white space to fit in small areas, e.g. table cell
    \begin{minipage}{\linewidth}\begin{list}{$\bullet$}{\leftmargin=0.5em \rightmargin=0em \topsep=0em \parskip=0em \parsep=0em \listparindent=0em \partopsep=0em \itemsep=0pt \itemindent=0em \labelwidth=\leftmargin\labelsep+0.25em}
}{
    \end{list}\end{minipage}
}

and if you include the [t] optional parameter as in \begin{minipage}[t]{\linewidth} you get:

---

Update: As the OP commented, the data in the first column was slightly below where it should be. One way to fix that is to use the [t] option as mentioned above along with:

\multirow{2}{*}{\begin{minipage}[c]{\linewidth}\centering \textbf{Class 1 name}\end{minipage}} 

Here is the complete code:

\documentclass[12pt, oneside]{report} 
\renewcommand{\baselinestretch}{1.2}
\usepackage[letterpaper,includehead,left=3.25cm,right=2.5cm,top=2.5cm,headsep=1.5cm,headheight=0.0cm,bottom=2.5cm,footskip=1.0cm]{geometry} 

\usepackage[english]{babel}

\usepackage{booktabs}
\usepackage{multirow}
\usepackage{tabularx}
\usepackage{array}

\newenvironment{compactlist}{ % List with minimal white space to fit in small areas, e.g. table cell
    \begin{minipage}[t]{\linewidth}\begin{list}{$\bullet$}{\leftmargin=0.5em \rightmargin=0em \topsep=0em \parskip=0em \parsep=0em \listparindent=0em \partopsep=0em \itemsep=0pt \itemindent=0em \labelwidth=\leftmargin\labelsep+0.25em}
}{
    \end{list}\end{minipage}
}

\begin{document}

\begin{table}[htpb]
\centering
\footnotesize

\begin{tabular}{ p{2cm} | p{3cm} | p{4cm}  | p{4cm}}
\toprule
\cmidrule(r){1-2}

\centering \textbf{Class} & \textbf{Method} & \textbf{Pros} & \textbf{Cons} \\
\midrule

\multirow{2}{*}{\begin{minipage}[c]{\linewidth}\centering \textbf{Class 1 name}\end{minipage}} 

& First method name with linebreak
& \begin{compactlist}
        \item One downside
\end{compactlist}
& \begin{compactlist}
        \item Another downside with longer text to create a linebreak or two
\end{compactlist} \\

& Second method
&  \begin{compactlist}
        \item Good results
        \item Fast
\end{compactlist}
& \begin{compactlist}
        \item Expensive
\end{compactlist} \\ 
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}
\end{table}
\end{document}

---

Another option is to enclose the list content within a \parbox, but I think the \minipage solution is simpler.