ABSTRACT
The panel made a number of specific recommendations designed to improve the database for rural society. The panel argued that the difficulties of defining rural should not be allowed to result in inequitable treatment for rural people. Procedures for obtaining, analyzing, and reporting data should be developed to provide data for rural people and problems that are comparable in scope and reliability to those for metropolitan areas. Reliable rural statistics cost more per capita and per data set produced. In addition, the more heterogeneous nature of rural society requires more descriptors. Data must be analyzed, organized, and shaped for some general purpose to become subject-matter information. Data must be further analyzed, organized, and shaped into problem-solving information for a specific decision. Data must be compared to past data sets for comparability to know what they mean and to test their reliability.
