The potential of regional schools and colleges in generating social science information for rural development organizations has been discounted because of the commonly held assumption that the combination of low resources and relatively poorly trained or overworked staff will not yield satisfactory results. Often, however, the significant limiting factor is access to skills normally available only through lengthy and expensive graduate degree programs. An alternative to graduate education is modular instruction featuring short term training to develop broadly analytical skills. Four modules were implemented in 1975 at non-metropolitan universities. Common analytical content included: (1) the logic of hypothesis testing; (2) alternatives to survey data collecting, including secondary data utilization, key informant interviewing, participant observation, and various combinations of techniques; and (3) structural and compositional effects. Group exercises formed the core of organization because the module implementation and evaluation was not the development of individual but rather the enhancement of group capabilities. Short term training to develop and sustain social science input has the potential for releasing the significant capabilities bottled up in many regional educational institutions. (DS)