Overview:The purpose of this paper is to provide a 'user-friendly' methodology for social analysis as part of the Rural Towns - Liquid Assets project.It documents the methodology that was adopted for social analysis in the towns of Merredin, Moora, Tambellup and Wagin.This same methodology can then be applied for other rural towns participating in the research.The social research process is described in detail from inception to report writing and providing feedback.It is deliberately written in an easily understandable and simple form to allow for all levels of expertise to be able to follow and utilise the mthodology.This forms one of the principal research objectives of the Australian Research Centre for Water in Society (ARCWIS) for the Rural Towns-Liquid Assets project.