The organizers of this symposium invited me to address the topic of evaluation as related to rural development and/or small farms. I will discuss evaluation of a small but important aspect of the former and disregard the latter. Specifically, I will not discuss the area of small farms. Rather, I will simply refer to a forthcoming report which evaluates the state of past research on small farms and proposes an agenda for future research (Madden, et al, 1980). I will however, discuss the evaluation of a specific type of rural development research-extension program conducted by the land-grant university system, namely, Title V of the Rural Development Act of 1972. Beyond the scope of this paper is the recent USDA evaluation of cooperative research, including community resource development and other kinds of rural development extension efforts (USDA, 1980). Also beyond the range of this essay are evaluations of other kinds of rural development programs, such as capital funding programs to provide water and sewerage systems, roads, etc.