The following table shows the sales rates and respective salaries for members of a team.

The correct answer is C. Positive . The table shows that, in general, as salary increases , the average sales rate also tends to increase. For example, lower salaries such as 1.2 are associated with lower sales rates such as 0.23 , while higher salaries such as 4.3 are associated with higher sales rates such as 0.33 . This indicates an upward relationship between the two variables.

The CSSBB source explains that a scatter diagram and the correlation coefficient r are used to examine the relationship between two variables. It states that a positive value for r implies that the line slopes upward to the right , meaning as X increases, Y generally increases. That description fits this table. The relationship is not perfect, but it is clearly not negative, and it is stronger than “no correlation.” Therefore, the best description from the choices provided is positive correlation .

This is consistent with CSSBB Analyze-phase methods for measuring relationships between variables. Thus, option C is the verified answer.