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The similarity is that both of them are the two types of quantitative data also called
numerical data. However, in practice, many data mining and statistical decisions
depend on whether the basic data is discrete or continuous.
OBJECTIVES
Discrete data is a count that involves integers. Only a limited number of values is
possible. The discrete values cannot be subdivided into parts.
For example, the number of children in a school is discrete data. You can count whole
individuals. You can’t count 1.5 kids.
So, discrete data can take only certain values. The data variables cannot be
divided into smaller parts.
Discrete data may also be ordinal or nominal (see our post nominal vs ordinal data).
When the values of the discrete data fit into one of many categories and there is an
order or rank to the values, we have ordinal discrete data.
Discrete data may be also nominal where the data fit into one or more categories
where there is no order between the values.
For example, eye color can fall into one of these categories: blue, green, or brown.
Examples of discrete data:
The number of students in a class.
The number of workers in a company.
The number of parts damaged during transportation.
Shoe sizes.
Number of languages an individual speaks.
The number of home runs in a baseball game.
The number of test questions you answered correctly.
Instruments in a shelf.
The number of siblings a randomly selected individual has.
Continuous data is information that could be meaningfully divided into finer levels. It
can be measured on a scale or continuum and can have almost any numeric value.
For example, you can measure your height at very precise scales — meters,
centimeters, millimeters, etc.
In comparison to discrete data, continuous data give a much better sense of the
variation that is present.
In addition, continuous data can take place in many different kinds of hypothesis
checks. For example, to evaluate the accuracy of the weight printed on the product box.
When it comes to sampling methods, the measurement tool could be a restricting factor
for continuous data. For example, if I say that my height is 65 inches, my height is not
exactly 65 inches. That’s just what my scale shows me. In fact, my height might be
65.76597 inches.
This should be taken into consideration if you perform market research and be careful
about different scales, measurements, data collection methods, and data collecting
tools.