A committee on community relations in a college town plans to survey local businesses about the importance of students as customers. From telephone book listings, the committee chooses 282 businesses at random. Of these, 69 return the questionnaire mailed by the committee. The population for this study is

A. the 282 businesses chosen.
B. all businesses in the college town.
C. the 69 businesses that returned the questionnaire.
D. None of the above.