Based on a North Carolina feasibility study (1967-73 in Vance and Franklin Counties) which focused on development of a pattern for providing comprehensive mental health services to rural people, this booklet is the first in a series of nine and deals with methods of gathering preliminary information. Basically, this booklet presents information gathering techniques and applications; reports on findings of the After Survey (completed at project termination); and discusses the following sources of information for detecting community needs: (1) Citizen's Advisory Councils: County Level; (2) Neighborhood Citizens' Advisory Councils; (3) Administrative Contacts: County Level; (4) Administrative Contacts: Agencies; (5) Need Inputs from Special Interest Groups; (6) Visits to Local Decision Makers; and (7) Need Inputs from State and Regional Planning Groups. Specifically, this booklet discusses: (1) the Health Opinion Survey, HOS (a 20-item screening instrument used to assess the prevalence of psychiatric or emotional disorder); (2) HOS findings in a rural population (of significance when related to age, marital status, education, occupation, and income); (3) assessment of mental health attitudes among teachers, community leaders, and the general public (program services, mental illness etiology, hospitals, treatment, psychiatrists, etc.); (4) use of Virginia Star's Case Abstract Vignettes to measure attitudes. (JC)