How can I achieve proper vertical spacing for long blocks of text within a \multirow?

Question

I'm trying to work with a table of the form:

\begin{tabular}[]{l D{.}{.}{-1}}
  \multirow{2}{1in}{Here is a ton of text that is not going
  to fit in one single line in this 1 inch column.}         & 20.132  \\
  \vspace{5em}                                              & (9.218) \\
                                                            &         \\
  Next thing                                                & 1.311   \\
                                                            & (0.182)
\end{tabular}

I'm using multirow here to achieve the goal of having the numbers aligned with the top of the long label, with no lines separating the two numeric cells.

Essentially it should look like this:

Here is a ton of           20.132
text that is not           (9.218)
going to fit in one
single line in this
1 inch column.

Next thing                  1.311
                           (0.182)

The code above works, but notice how I've had to include \vspace{5em}. Without this, the ton of text overflows its allotted vbox onto the next thing. The problem is that visually inspecting the output and adding ems isn't ideal, especially as I need to automatically generate many tables that need this kind of wrapping/alignment. I'm using dcolumn, so I'm not sure I can change much with the numeric column.

So, finally, I'm looking for suggestions on how to properly provide space for the block of text inside \multirow, without manually inventing some vspace. Thanks for any info you can provide.

Answer 1

The D column specification forces the column into a fixed width. For that reason it is possible to contain elements in the numeric column in their own tabular. Also, even though \multirow{<#>}{<width>}{<stuff>} sets its depth based on the parameter <#>, the actual depth (in rows) is not obtained from typesetting <stuff> in a column of width <width>, as you have noted. Its depth is set by whatever is not contained in \multirow across the <#> rows. This limitation requires the forced/manual spacing which doesn't bode well for clean code. Instead of using the multirow package, nesting provides an appropriate solution:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{dcolumn}% http://ctan.org/pkg/dcolumn

\begin{document}

\begin{tabular}{p{1in} l}
  Here is a ton of text 
  that is not going
  to fit in one single line 
  in this 1 inch column.    & \begin{tabular}[t]{D{.}{.}{-1}}
                                20.132 \\
                                (9.218)
                              \end{tabular} \\ \\
  Next thing. Here is a 
  ton of text that is not
  going to fit in one 
  single line in this
  1 inch column.            & \begin{tabular}[t]{D{.}{.}{-1}}
                                 111.311 \\
                                (0.182)
                              \end{tabular}
\end{tabular}

\end{document}

Note that the numeric (right-hand) column's tabular is set to align at the top [t] to line up with the first line in the first column.

Answer 2

\documentclass{article}   
\usepackage{dcolumn}   
\def\DTab#1{\multicolumn{1}{@{}c@{}}{\tabular[t]{D{.}{.}{-1}}#1\endtabular}}
\begin{document}

\begin{tabular}{ p{1in} D{.}{.}{-1}}
  Here is a ton of text that is not going
  to fit in one single line in this 1 inch column.          & \DTab{20.132\\(9.218)}\\
                                                            &         \\
  Next thing                                                & 1.311   \\
                                                            & (0.182)
\end{tabular}

\end{document} 

Answer 3

I didn't use multirow, but I think the output is what you want:

\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}
\begin{tabular}[]{p{4.5cm}p{1cm}}
Here is a ton of text that is not going
to fit in one single line in this 1 inch column.    & 20.132   (9.218) \\\\                                           
Next thing                                          & 1.311   (0.182)
\end{tabular}
\end{document}

The p{4.5cm}p{1cm} tells you the first column should be 4.5cm wide and the second column will be 1cm wide. By making the second column only 1cm wide, the numbers end up stacking like you wanted.