What type of correlation occurs when two attributes are correlated to one another, and as the values in one attribute decrease, the values in the other attribute also decrease?

• A. Negative
• B. No correlation
• C. Positive
• D. Inverse

Answer: (C)

Correlation measures how two attributes move together. If they tend to rise and fall in the same direction, that’s a positive correlation. In your case, as one value decreases, the other also decreases, showing they move in the same direction. A simple way to think about it is that high values of one attribute go with high values of the other, and low values go with low values. If one increased while the other decreased, that would be a negative correlation. No correlation means no predictable pattern between the two. The term inverse is often used informally to mean negative, but the pattern described here is best called positive.