What term is used to describe an association where two variables increase or decrease together?

The term that describes an association where two variables increase or decrease together is known as a positive relationship. In this context, a positive relationship indicates that as one variable rises, the other variable also rises, or conversely, if one variable falls, the other variable also falls. This direct relationship highlights a correlation where both variables move in the same direction, which is crucial for understanding trends and making predictions in marketing analysis.

In contrast, a negative relationship refers to a scenario where one variable increases while the other decreases, indicating an inverse relationship. Similarly, an independent variable is a factor that is manipulated in an experiment to observe its effect on a dependent variable, but it does not describe the relationship between two changing variables. A hypothesis is a proposed explanation made on the basis of limited evidence as a starting point for further investigation, but it is not a term that describes the nature of the relationship between two variables.