Statistics interview question: What is the difference between discrete and continuous data?
In my last post on statistics interview questions, I asked what is the difference between quantitative and qualitative data, and that post can be found here:- https://medium.com/@tracyrenee61/statistics-interview-question-what-is-the-difference-between-quantitative-and-qualitative-data-57ef50962ce9
In this post I am going to carry on my discussion of quantitative data to expand upon it a bit. There are two types data that form a part of quantitative data, and they are discrete and continuous. The main difference between discrete and continuous data is the type of information they represent.
Discrete data
Discrete data typically only shows information for a particular event.
Discrete data represents countable figures, such as the number of passengers in a ship.
Discrete data is typically an integer, which is a whole number.
Discrete data can be measured simply, such as with a line or bar chart.
Discrete data remains constant over different time intervals.
Examples of discrete data are:-
- Ticket sales
- Number of employees
- Number of reviews
