A guide showing how the various aspects of rural life may be examined and how the facts about conditions of rural populations may be found and analyzed is presented in this manual. The manual is intended for officials in government, colleges, institutions training rural welfare workers, or others who may be involved in organizing and conducting rural surveys. Discussion focuses on importance and nature of the social survey, the main steps in the fact-finding process, description of methods used in securing information, problems involved in fact-finding at local, national, and international levels, facts to be investigated, and survey planning. An extensive list of better-known surveys and examples of organized fact-finding in other parts of the world are included. (SW)