Multirows overlapping and extending past page

Question

I have been trying for a few days now to fix this table in my Overleaf file. The multirows are extending past the page, and some of the cells are overlapping. There also seems to be a break in a \cline.

\documentclass[acmsmall, anonymous=true]{acmart}

\usepackage{multirow}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{tabularx}

\newcolumntype{Y}{>{\centering\arraybackslash}X}
\newcolumntype{d}{>{\centering}b{.03\textwidth}}

\begin{table}[hbt!]
\centering
\def\tabularxcolumn#1{m{#1}}
\begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{cdYX}
\textit{Phase} &  & \multicolumn{1}{c}{\textit{Step}} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{\textit{Difficulties a Potential Data Subject Faces with Each Step}} \\
\multicolumn{1}{c|}{\multirow{8}{*}{\textbf{Collection}}} &  & \multirow{2}{=}{Data Source} & \multirow{2}{*}{looooooong looooooong looooooong looooooong cell looooooong looooooong looooooong looooooong cell}
\\ \cline{2-2}
\multicolumn{1}{c|}{} &  &  &  \\
\multicolumn{1}{c|}{} &  & \multirow{2}{*}{Subject Type} & \multirow{2}{*}{x} \\ \cline{2-2}
\multicolumn{1}{c|}{} &  &  &  \\
\multicolumn{1}{c|}{} &  & \multirow{2}{*}{Awareness and Consent} & \multirow{2}{*}{x} \\ \cline{2-2}
\multicolumn{1}{c|}{} &  &  &  \\
\multicolumn{1}{c|}{} &  & \multirow{2}{*}{Original Data Licensing} & \multirow{2}{*}{x} \\ \cline{2-2}
\multicolumn{1}{c|}{} &  &  &  \\ \hline
\multicolumn{1}{l|}{\textbf{Packaging}} &  & \multirow{2}{*}{Dataset Availability} & \multirow{2}{*}{x} \\ \cline{2-2}
\multicolumn{1}{l|}{} &  &  &  \\
\multicolumn{1}{l|}{} &  & \multirow{2}{*}{Dataset Licensing} & \multirow{2}{*}{x} \\ \cline{2-2}
\multicolumn{1}{l|}{} &  &  &  \\
\multicolumn{1}{l|}{} &  & \multirow{2}{*}{Prohibited Uses} & \multirow{2}{*}{x} \\ \cline{2-2}
\multicolumn{1}{l|}{} &  &  &  \\ \cline{1-1} \cline{3-4} 
\multicolumn{1}{l|}{\textbf{Use}} &  & \multirow{2}{*}{Model Use} & \multirow{2}{*}{x} \\ \cline{2-2}
\multicolumn{1}{l|}{} &  &  &  \\
\multicolumn{1}{l|}{} &  & \multirow{2}{*}{Dataset Derivatives} & \multirow{2}{*}{x} \\ \cline{2-2}
\multicolumn{1}{l|}{} &  &  &  \\
\multicolumn{1}{l|}{} &  & \multirow{2}{*}{Derivative Domain Shift} & \multirow{2}{*}{x} \\ \cline{2-2}
\multicolumn{1}{l|}{} &  &  &  \\ \cline{1-3}
\multicolumn{1}{l|}{\textbf{Retraction}} &  &  & \multirow{2}{*}{x} \\ \cline{2-3}
\multicolumn{1}{l|}{} &  &  & 
\end{tabularx}
 \caption[x]{\small x}
    \label{table:source}    
    \vspace{-5mm}
\end{table}
\FloatBarrier

When I have tried some solutions I've found on other posts, like specifying the cell width, I instead get this:

A sketch of the desired output (apologize it is crappy, I just moved things around in paint):

Any help would be much appreciated.

Answer 1

I also made a solution with the tabularray package, which makes it much easier. This is a rather new package, so it may be a bit scary to use it. But it makes it much easier, as it automatically takes the actual size of cells into account. So it works also correctly with much larger texts, without you having to adjust numbers in \multirow.

I defined a rule (\RR) for the second column which I use instead of the \cline{2-2}. This is more robust. I also vertically centered the labels in the first column.

\documentclass[acmsmall, anonymous=true]{acmart}

\usepackage{tabularray}

\newcommand{\RR}{\rule[0.5ex]{6mm}{0.4pt}} % rule for second column

\begin{document}
\begin{table}[hbt!]
  \centering
  \begin{tblr}{ l | Q[l,m,colsep=0pt] X[1,l,m] X[3,l,m] }
    \textit{Phase} & & \SetCell[c=1]{c}{\textit{Step}} &
    \SetCell[c=1]{c}{\textit{Difficulties a Potential Data Subject
        Faces with Each Step}} \\ \hline
    \SetCell[r=4]{m}\textbf{Collection}
      & \RR & Data Source & 
          looooooong looooooong looooooong looooooong cell looooooong looooooong looooooong looooooong cell \\ 
      & \RR & Subject Type & x \\
      & \RR & Awareness and Consent & x \\
      & \RR & Original Data Licensing & x \\ \hline
      \SetCell[r=3]{m}\textbf{Packaging} & \RR &Dataset Availability & x \\ 
      & \RR & Dataset Licensing & x \\
      & \RR & Prohibited Uses & x \\
      \cline{1-1} \cline{3-4}
      \SetCell[r=3]{m}\textbf{Use} & \RR & Model Use & x \\
      & \RR & Dataset Derivatives & x \\
      & \RR & Derivative Domain Shift & x \\
      \cline{1-3}
      \textbf{Retraction} & & & x  \\ \cline{2-3} 
   \end{tblr}
  \caption[x]{\small x}
  \label{table:source}
  \vspace{-5mm}
\end{table}
%\FloatBarrier
\end{document}

Answer 2

I made a couple of changes to your code:

1. I changed the column widths. You have two X columns; I made the first one narrower.
2. I eliminated the \multicolumn{1}{c|} (or l|) in the first column by putting the | in the tabular specification. (I choose l rather than c because that seemed the best to me.)
3. I put an \extrarowheight to get more space between the rows.
4. I changed a lot of \multirow{2}{*} to \multirow{2}{=}. For columns where text wrapping is wanted this is the proper choice. Actually I think all of them could be changed.
5. I put a \hline under the header to separate it from the rest of the table.

This gives the following solution. I think this example stresses the use of \multirow to its limits. You probably will have to adjust some of the \multirow{2} to a larger number instead of 2, if the long text in the last column will grow bigger. I would advise to see if the tabularray package might be a better choice for this kind of table.

\documentclass[acmsmall, anonymous=true]{acmart}

\usepackage{multirow}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{tabularx}

\newcolumntype{Y}{>{\centering\arraybackslash\hsize=0.3\hsize}X}
\newcolumntype{d}{>{\centering}b{.02\textwidth}}
\setlength{\extrarowheight}{2pt}

\begin{document}
\begin{table}[hbt!]
  \centering \def\tabularxcolumn#1{m{#1}}
  \begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{ l | d Y X }
    \textit{Phase} & & \multicolumn{1}{c}{\textit{Step}} &
    \multicolumn{1}{c}{\textit{Difficulties a Potential Data Subject
        Faces with Each Step}} \\ \hline
    {\multirow{8}{*}{\textbf{Collection}}} & & \multirow{2}{=}{Data Source} & 
    \multirow{2}{=}{looooooong looooooong looooooong looooooong cell looooooong looooooong looooooong looooooong cell}
    \\ \cline{2-2} \\
    & & \multirow{2}{=}{Subject Type} & \multirow{2}{*}{x} \\
    \cline{2-2}
    &  &  &  \\
    & & \multirow{2}{=}{Awareness and Consent} & \multirow{2}{*}{x} \\
    \cline{2-2}
    &  &  &  \\
    & & \multirow{2}{=}{Original Data Licensing} &
    \multirow{2}{*}{x} \\ \cline{2-2}
    & & & \\ \hline
    {\textbf{Packaging}} & & \multirow{2}{=}{Dataset Availability} & \multirow{2}{*}{x} \\ \cline{2-2}
    &  &  &  \\
    & & \multirow{2}{=}{Dataset Licensing} & \multirow{2}{*}{x} \\
    \cline{2-2}
    &  &  &  \\
    & & \multirow{2}{=}{Prohibited Uses} &
    \multirow{2}{*}{x} \\ \cline{2-2} 
    & & & \\
    \cline{1-1} \cline{3-4}
    {\textbf{Use}} & &
    \multirow{2}{=}{Model Use} & \multirow{2}{*}{x} \\ \cline{2-2}
    &  &  &  \\
    & & \multirow{2}{=}{Dataset Derivatives} & \multirow{2}{*}{x} \\
    \cline{2-2}
    &  &  &  \\
    & & \multirow{2}{=}{Derivative Domain Shift} &
    \multirow{2}{*}{x} \\ \cline{2-2} 
    & & & \\
    \cline{1-3}
    {\textbf{Retraction}} & & & \multirow{2}{*}{x} \\
    \cline{2-3} 
    & & &
  \end{tabularx}
  \caption[x]{\small x}
  \label{table:source}
  \vspace{-5mm}
\end{table}
%\FloatBarrier
\end{document}