Book excerpt: Recognizing the need to conduct audience studies to aid in arts organizations' policy development, this manual was developed to inform arts organization personnel on how to conduct a valid survey; to discourage poor surveys and raise the standards of audience information; and to provide guidance on when survey consultants should be chosen as well as what to expect from a consultant in terms of audience survey specifications. The manual can be used in a wide range of arts settings and includes survey questions as well as step-by-step instructions on planning, conducting, analyzing, and presenting audience surveys. Field tests were conducted to find out what the manual could do, and site visits monitored the progress of five projects. The manual contains six chapters: (1) "Why an Audience Survey"; (2) "Developing the Questionnaire"; (3) "Sample Design"; (4) "Collecting Survey Data"; (5) "Data Processing"; and (6) "Interpreting and Presenting Survey Results." An appendix of Model Survey Questions is included. (KWL)