Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 May 2017
Population has been increasing for at least a decade in rural areas of West Virginia as in many areas of the Nation. This phenomenon is transforming rural areas, with problems of growth replacing those of decline. If local governments, the extension service and others are to cope adequately with this emerging set of problems, more must be learned about the newer residents, their attitudes, needs and how they relate to those of the rest of the population in the area. A number of recent analyses of rural development attest to the serious data gap that exists with respect to knowledge in the area (Beal; Fuguitt, Voss and Doherty; Gilford, Nelson, and Ingram; Powers and Moe in Dillman and Hobbs, p. 14; and Sofranko and Williams). This paper reports on a 1981 survey of rural residents in nine selected West Virginia counties, a survey which was conducted to help solve the data gap problems.
Published with the approval of the Director of the West Virginia Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station as Scientific Article # 1777. This research was supported with funds appropriated under the Hatch Act.