Subgroup size is another important data characteristic to consider in selecting the right type of chart. When constructing attribute control charts, a subgroup is the group of units that were inspected to obtain the number of defects or the number of rejects.
To choose the correct chart, you need to determine if the subgroup size is constant or not. If constant, for example 300 forms are processed every day, then you can look at a straight count of the defective occurrences. If the subgroup size changes, you need to look at the proportion or fraction of defective occurrences.
For example: A hospital may have a day in which 500 insurance forms are processed and 50 have errors vs. another day in which only 150 are processed and 20 have errors. If we only look at the count of errors, 50 vs. 20, we would assume the 50 error day was worse. But when considering the total size of the subgroup, 500 vs. 150, we determine that on the first day 10% had errors while the other day 13.3% had errors.