For your research paper, you need to find a problem or question in your major that you would like to answer. It cannot be simply a question like, How much money do people in my field make? This sort of question can be answered by simply collecting information without interpreting the information. Instead, the question or problem requires not only collecting data but also interpreting that data. T

For instance, if you collected data on salaries for accountants across the U.S., you would simply report what the salaries were. There's no interpretation here. But suppose you noticed that the salaries varied according to region (or perhaps according to city within one state), then one question might be, Why do accountants in different regions receive different salaries? Then you would need to collect data that might answer that question. This data would probably be different from the earlier data because the first set of data answers the question, "How much?" while the second set of data will need to answer the question, "Why do the salaries vary?"