Tips are offered for using the needs/interest survey process to provide continuing and community education programmers with information for setting goals and establishing program objectives. Some of the 50 tips include using only those questions essential to programming, restricting the length, targeting the survey, getting input on topics included, programming based on findings, keeping the instrument simple, asking for identification of a contact person, asking for a commitment, avoiding educational jargon, securing administrative support for the study, eliciting support from important people inside and outside one's agency, giving directions on how to answer questions, avoiding generalizing information, being careful to program based on "consumer" rather than "planner" needs, and including cooperative planning with other agencies to validly determine needs. Other tips are predetermining who, when, and why others can use the data; preparing for unanticipated responses; preparing a clear, thorough, and unbiased report; pretesting the study; thanking participants; analyzing data again and again; protecting results; including program information to generate interest; getting involved with the community; including the name and telephone number of a contact person; and grouping questions. (YLB)