A project entitled 'Development of Techniques for Estimating the Benefits of Water Resources Development for Achieving National and Regional Social Goals' had as an objective the definition of national goals and the identification of techniques to measure social variables. The purpose of the research reported in this thesis was to evaluate the public's perception of social goals in an effort to validate the primary goal set. The technique employed to ascertain the completeness of this goal set was survey research. The results of the survey gave support to the expansion of the goal set to include environmental security. The data also shed light on the interviewed individuals' perceptions of the relative importance of activities in each goal area. The study indicates to the policy maker that the achievement of social goals through resource commitments will be relative to the population being considered.