LEANARROWS
Continuous data measures a characteristic of a part or process, such as length, weight, or temperature. The data often includes fractional (or decimal) values.
Example:
A quality analyst wants to determine whether the mean fill weight differs from the value stated on the package label (500 g). The analyst weighs a sample of cereal boxes from a single production shift.
If possible, collect continuous data because they provide more detailed information. However, sometimes attribute data adequately describe the quality of a part or a process. For example, if you track broken light bulbs, you don’t need to measure a characteristic of the bulb to evaluate whether it’s broken or not. What matters is only the number of bulbs that are broken (counts).