Data drive policies; a lack of information results in unresponsive or biased public policies. This book argues that current methods of gathering and interpreting data are not sensitive to the diversity and needs of people living in rural America. Emphasizing the goals of complementarity, cooperation, and responsiveness, it suggests how federal and state agencies and public universities can work together to create a more appropriate information system for developing rural policy. Three sections, focusing on the politics of data, rural data, and information technologies, contain the following 11 chapters: (1) "Rural Data Needs: The Comparative Advantage of University Research" (James A. Christenson and Edwin H. Carpenter); (2) "The Politics of Information" (Jerry R. Skees and Louis E. Swanson); (3) "Rural Data Needs in Rapidly Changing Times" (James T. Bonnen); (4) "Multiple-Level Data Sets" (Glenn L. Nelson); (5) "Longitudinal Data Sets for Rural Poverty Research" (Ann R. Tickamyer and Melissa Latimer); (6) "Rural Family Studies: Multiple Wave, Multiple Indicator Data" (Frederick O. Lorenz and Rand D. Conger); (7) "Sampling Frames for Rural Household Surveys" (Robert D. Tortora); (8) "Qualitative Insights to Enhance National Information Systems" (Janet L. Bokemeier and Kristen R. Yount); (9) "Surveys and Rural Data Needs" (Don A. Dillman); (10) "New Social Science Research Technologies" (Edwin H. Carpenter); and (11) "Geographic Information Systems and Rural Data" (Steven D. Shultz and Robert MacArthur). Contains name and subject indexes and contributor profiles. (SV)