The developmental work or phase 1 of a study which will collect information on the operational and financial conditions of the arts and cultural organizations which make application to the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) for grant support is described. As part of the Economic Data Series, the report will provide the Endowment with information useful in planning and in assessing the important economic trends which are vital to the health of the arts. The study will categorize recent organizational applicants to NEA into one of eight disciplines: museum; symphony orchestra; theatre; opera; ballet and modern dance; literature; other performing arts; and other arts and cultural organizations. The methodology will be to survey via questionnaires a selected sample of organizations within each of these eight disciplines. The report is presented in two volumes. Volume 1 contains the narrative description of the developmental work performed in phase 1. Described are the preparation of draft questionnaires, design of processing procedures, conduct of the pretest, assessment of feasibility of data collection, the exploration of alternative approaches, data collection approaches, sample design, and the proposed approach. Various project deliverables and supporting documentation are included as appendices in volume 2. (RM)