AS PART OF AN OVERALL EVALUATION OF ITS EDUCATIONAL CURRICULUM, THE UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, IN 1964, COMMISSIONED THE DEPARTMENT OF RESEARCH OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF CHURCHES TO PROVIDE SYSTEMATIC AND COHERENT PROFILES OF COMMUNICANTS, YOUTH, CHURCH SCHOOL TEACHERS, AND MINISTERS. THIS RESEARCH WAS BASED ON THE INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACH TO SOCIAL COMMUNICATION, A PRIOR AND MORE GENERAL PROBLEM THAN LEARNING, DEVELOPED BY BEHAVIORAL SCIENTISTS. THE THEORETICAL MODEL USED WAS BASED ON THE PREMISE THAT SOCIAL ROLE SYSTEMS INTEGRATE BEHAVIOR IN SOCIAL ENVIRONMENTS AND SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS, AND THAT SOCIAL ROLE SYSTEMS ARE COMPOSED OF AT LEAST THREE COMPONENT SYSTEMS--BELIEFS, SKILLS, AND MOTIVATIONS. THIS DOCUMENT, VOLUME I OF THE STUDY, DESCRIBES THE SAMPLING PROCEDURE. TWO-STATE CLUSTER SAMPLING WAS USED, THE FIRST STAGE BEING A SYSTEMATIC RANDOM SAMPLING OF CHURCHES REPRESENTING ALL SYNODS AND GEOGRAPHIC REGIONS OF THE CHURCH. THE SAMPLE CHURCHES BECAME CLUSTERS FROM WHICH THE SAMPLE OF INDIVIDUAL RESPONDENTS WAS DRAWN. OVER 3,000 QUESTIONNAIRES WERE MAILED, THE RESPONSE RATE BEING 67.7 PERCENT. DATA ON RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION WERE CHECKED FOR REPRESENTATIVENESS AGAINST THOSE FROM THE CENSUS OF 1957, THE NATIONAL OPINION RESEARCH CENTER, AND THE SURVEY RESEARCH CENTER AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN. IT WAS FOUND THAT THE SAMPLE WAS BETTER EDUCATED, OLDER, MORE AFFLUENT, AND WITH HIGHER EDUCATIONAL STATUS THAN MOST OTHER RELIGIOUS GROUPS. THE DOCUMENT INCLUDES TABLES AND BIBLIOGRAPHIES. IT WAS PUBLISHED BY THE BOARD OF CHRISTIAN EDUCATION OF THE UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 1321 WALNUT (WITHERSPOON BUILDING), PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYOLVANIA 19107. (EB)