Factors related to the contextual aspects of educational administrators' information needs were studied in a statewide survey of 199 administrators of adult and community education programs. Attention was directed to: varying preferences for different information sources, the effects of different decision or program development tasks on preferences for information sources, demand for accountability, and program uncertainties. The verbal information sources included discussion with agency clients (internal) and government officials (external). Administrators generally found information from verbal sources more useful for program development than information from analytic sources (e.g., surveys, structured program evaluations). Analytic information was most useful to administrators when demands for accountability and program certainty were at high levels. Administrators did not see the value of analytic information for tasks such as resource allocation, program design, and monitoring. It is suggested that the problem may be that analytic information is too costly or unwieldy. Future research should focus on methods that link the compensatory strengths of verbal and analytic sources of information in the design of information systems. (SW)