Guidelines for Identifying and Selecting Your Data Analytics Project

Applied Data-Driven Solutions Course

1. Purpose of the Project

The goal of your project is to solve a real-world problem using data analytics — from defining the problem to delivering insights or predictive models that could help stakeholders make better decisions.
Your project should demonstrate:


2. Steps to Identify and Select a Project

Step 1: Identify a Problem of Interest

Choose a topic that:

Ask yourself:


Step 2: Search for Potential Datasets

You can find project datasets from:


Step 3: Check Feasibility

Before committing, ensure:


Step 4: Define Clear Goals and Success Metrics

Examples:


Step 5: Get Inspiration from Kaggle Competitions

Joining a Kaggle competition is a great way to:

Examples:


Step 6: Narrow Down to One Project

Select a project based on:


3. Example Project Ideas by Domain

Domain

Example Project

Possible Dataset Source

Healthcare

Predict hospital readmission within 30 days

MIMIC-IV (PhysioNet)

Finance

Credit card fraud detection

Kaggle: Credit Card Fraud Dataset

Retail

Sales forecasting for products

Kaggle: Predict Future Sales

Marketing

Customer churn prediction

Kaggle: Telco Customer Churn

IT Operations

Predict long-resolution IT tickets

ServiceNow (synthetic), Kaggle IT ticket data

Education

Predict student dropout risk

Open University Learning Analytics Dataset

Transportation

Predict taxi demand in NYC

NYC Open Data, Kaggle Taxi Data

Sports Analytics

Predict NBA game outcomes

Kaggle NBA Stats datasets

Environmental

Air quality forecasting

UCI Air Quality Dataset, OpenAQ


4. Dataset Repository References


5. Deliverables for the Selection Phase

By the end of Week 2 of the course, you should submit:

  1. Project Title
  2. Problem Statement (max 150 words)
  3. Dataset Description (source, number of records, variables)
  4. Planned Analytical Approach (descriptive, predictive, etc.)
  5. Success Metric
  6. Why You Chose This Project (interest, feasibility, impact)

 

Project identification and selection template: Project_selection_template.docx