Final answer:
Things that can be counted, timed, or observed through audits are quantitative customer-defined service standards. Examples include the duration of service as quantitative continuous data and the number of times a service is used per week as quantitative discrete data.
Step-by-step explanation:
Things that can be counted, timed, or observed through audits are quantitative customer-defined service standards. This type of data can be measured and expressed numerically, allowing for more precise analyses and conclusions. For example, the duration (amount of time) is a type of quantitative continuous data, as it can be measured to an exact amount and can take on any value in a given range. Similarly, the number of times per week represents quantitative discrete data because it involves counting and can only take on certain numerical values. When researching customer service standards, data points like these are critical for providing an objective assessment of the service quality.
A management professional might analyze these types of data using various analytical skills to identify trends, make decisions, and implement improvements. It's crucial to differentiate between quantitative and qualitative data as they each provide different insights - quantitative data offers precise measurements while qualitative data typically involves subjective descriptions that are not easily expressed as numbers.