The results of a survey of 400 randomly selected principals from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland appear to validate a newly developed instrument for measuring three factors: the depth of principals' interests in information developed through educational research, the extent to which these principals exhibit rational approaches to information gathering, and the degree of management autonomy these principals consider themselves to have. This paper describes the theory underlying the study, the methodology used, the characteristics of the data source, the use of interviews with selected survey respondents to validate the survey findings, and some possible factors affecting the principals' attitudes as revealed through the interviews. According to the authors, the validated instrument will be used in further research on the relationship between principals' utilization of research, their attitudes towards scientific methods, and their effectiveness as instructional leaders. (PGD)