To obtain rural school superintendents' assessment of research needs, questionnaires were sent in 1986 to 752 superintendents from schools with less than 1,000 K-12 student population. The questionnaires, adapted from the research agenda of the Rural Education Association (REA), consisted of 51 research topics grouped under 9 thematic categories. For each topic superintendents were asked: how useful would research data on this item be for you right now, and would you be willing to participate in a research project to collect data on this item? The 180 respondents rated most useful those research topics in the categories of rural school effectiveness and rural school finance. They were most willing to participate in school effectiveness research. At the bottom of the list for both usefulness and willingness to participate were those research topics related to a taxonomy of rural education. Rural superintendents seemed most interested in research that would help them survive financially and do a good job of educating rural youth. Unlike rural academicians, they were not interested in defining, classifying, or locating rural schools. This project identified a list of potential participants for research projects whose names will be on file with the REA. (JHZ)