Exploring existing methodologies to determine whether they can be adapted or adopted to support strategic goal setting, this paper focuses on information gathering techniques as they relate to the human resource development professional's input into strategic planning processes. The information gathering techniques are all qualitative methods and include: the cultural audit; judgmental methodologies, such as life cycles and Delphi Technique; political forecasting; history/failure analysis; scenarios; portfolio analysis; cross-impact analysis; graphical methodologies, such as force field analysis, network construction, decision trees, and graphs; uncertainty-complexity analysis; and critical success factors. A section is devoted to each of these techniques. An attempt is made to evaluate the various data gathering methodologies. A graphic model of the techniques being applied to the decision-making process is included. In the model, a label of strong, moderate, or weak is attached to each technique. The conclusion states that more research must be done before it can be stated with any confidence that a given technique is best suited for a particular task or as input into a particular decision-making system. An eight-page bibliography concludes the document. (CML)