Objective B of the Regional Project Statement for Project S-120 is "to determine perceptions toward development in activities, agency representatives, and clientele affected by organizational and agency activities". This paper addresses Objective B and presents a perspective which "suggests an answer to the inevitable 'so what' question when agency and public's responses are compared". Consideration is given to the "bottom up" and the "top down" perspectives; wherein the primary flow of power, influence, information, resources, etc. is perceived as coming from the bottom or the top. A general frame of reference for classification of publics and for straightforward, practical treatment of comparisons of publics and agencies is presented; wherein, the constituency relates to the agency according to the bottom-up perspective and the clientele relates to the agency according to the top-down perspective. Agencies are classified as public or governmental and private and the nature of constituencies and clientele is distinguished in terms of "federated" and/or "grassroots" publics. Finally, consideration is given to methodological issues and questions (e.g., which components should be included in such a research study, who would serve as the least biased interviewees, and how valid is the business of treating comparisons comparatively). (JC)