Answer:
option C the 69 businesses that returned the questionnaire.
Explanation:
It is given in the question that only 69 businesses out of all 282 randomly chosen businesses have returned the questionnaire mailed by the committee.
Therefore,
The data available for the study by the committee is of only 69 businesses that have replied to the committee. So the study is based on this population of 69 businesses only.
Hence, option c is the correct answer.