A clinic recently completed an exercise trial. The researcher found that the more time a person spent running on a treadmill, the more calories that person burned. Which type of relationship is demonstrated?

A negative association would imply that as one variable increases, the other decreases. In this scenario, if time spent running led to fewer calories burned, it would indicate a negative relationship; however, the findings clearly show that more time spent running correlates with more calories burned, which contradicts this option.

Negative causation suggests that one variable causes another variable to decrease. In the context of this question, there is no evidence to support that running leads to a decrease in calories burned; rather, the relationship shows an increase in calories burned with increased running time.

While this option seems plausible, causation implies a direct cause-and-effect relationship. The question describes an association, not necessarily a causal link, meaning that while running more may lead to burning more calories, the data does not confirm that running directly causes the increase in calories burned without considering other factors.