The first phase of a longitudinal research project, "Assessing Rural Communities' Viability and Associated Factors Under Conditions of Population Change," was conducted in 1975 in eight Utah communities (Panguitch, Richfield, Salina, Delta, Moab, Duchesne, Roosevelt, and Vernal) to provide useful information for planners, researchers, and administrators, particularly at the local level. Three communities had high growth, three showed moderate growth, and three showed decline between 1960 and 1970. Trained enumerators delivered questionnaires to households; 1,126 responses were obtained. Questionnaires covered several community aspects, evaluated 40 services and facilities, dealt with potential commitment to the community, and sought demographic and background data. Overall, respondents were fairly satisfied with their communities, found them viable, and were willing to participate in making them better. Residents of high growth rate communities had more negative views of their communities' services and gemeinschaft-like attributes than did residents of lower growth rate communities. The one attribute positively related to growth was the opportunity to earn a liveable income. The economic concept of community viability thus could not be directly related to the more social aspects of the concept. References, a bibliography of research using the same data base, and 48 tables conclude the document. (BRR)