On Independent Study topic: the problem is..

I have come across this situation quite often:

Student A: I want to find out or measure the relationship between A and B.
Example 1: A is GDP per capita and B can be seriousness of pollution.
Example 2: A is Export performance of HK and B is the strength of the currency of Hong Kong

You then come up with a research question: how does export performance of HK affect the strength of the HK currency?

Your question is: is it an acceptable topic and, if so, what should I do next?


I need to point out a few things at this point:

1. There are two aspects to consider about A and B: A and B as concepts to consider and A and B as the empirical measures to study the concepts of A and B. Let me give an example: If A is a student's competence of Statistics (at the conceptual level), then A (as an empirical measure to gauge A (at the conceptual level) can be examination score of Statistics.
2. You need to design a research method to study the cause-effect relationship between A and B
3. Fundamentally, why would you be interested in finding out this information; the question is: who cares? Or, let me put it in another way: what can be the practical and academic values of your findings?
4. Finally, you need to formulate a Research Design to carry out the investigation, e.g. in the form of a statistical test, etc.

All in all, you need to explore the subject you are interested in; you need to study Research Methods and you need to do literature review. If you still have problems, please discuss with me by email or by phone.