Determine a question of interest which involves quantifiable data. For example, if you worked at a local hospital, you may be interested in how absenteeism of nurses (i.e. nurses missing work) affects the happiness of long-term patients. The best place to start is in your environment that you deal with every day. Many examples of these types of questions are also given throughout the course. At the very least, you should start (at the beginning of this class) thinking about an idea. The students will see many examples of where the Professor of the class has analyzed data she has collected just to try to investigate a topic of his interest.