此一研究系有關臺灣省縣級菁英民主價值取向的實證研究，研究結果顯示，臺灣縣級地方菁英已有很高的參與取向、平等取向與多數決取向，但部份地方菁英似乎對部份地方民眾的公共事務參與能力，及在選舉權的行使問題上，仍有若干質疑。而這些縣級菁英的地方分權取向似乎不高。他們多數同意在發展國家利益的同時，仍應兼顧地方的自治與利益。但當國家利益與地方利益產生衝突時，仍應以國家的利益為優先。 就縣級菁英個人基本背景與民主價值取向的關係而言，除了年齡因素對地方分權取向，與黨籍因素對參與取向有顯著影響之外，對其民主價值取向的影響並不顯著。此一研究在與民國七十七年對鄉鎮（市）長、鄉鎮（市）民代表，及縣（市）長、縣（市）議員民主價值取向的研究相比較後，顯示臺灣縣級菁英因個人基本背景的差異，對其民主價值取向產生的影響，似乎有下降的趨勢。這似乎顯示經過臺灣近年來民主化、都市化與資訊傳播普及，以及社會不斷流動、融合的結果，臺灣地方菁英的民主價值取向的差異，已有減低的現象。

　　　　　1.The orientation of democratic value (1) Generally speaking, the local Taiwanese elites have stronger willingness and acknowledge to participate politics; however, the folks in Taiwan do not have as well participative capability of public affairs and decision-making as the elites do. (2) The local Taiwanese elites strongly support and agree the minorities' right for existence. Their democratic character or anti-authority, anti-privilege character are apparent, too. (3) From the perspective of decentralization, most of the local Taiwanese elites consent to balance the interest between the state and the local. They do not agree to sacrifice the local interest for the state's goal achievement. But, generally, the local Taiwanese elites' decentralization orientation is not very strong. (4) From the examination of vote-decision value, the local Taiwanese elites do have the idea of the right for minority and the right for majority. They strongly prefer majority-vote decision and have the democratic value of the minority obeying the majority. 2.The relation between the personal background and the orientation of democratic value (1) The fact of age does not have explicit affection on the local Taiwanese elites' orientation of political participation, equity, decentralization, and majority-decision. (2) Political party factor do explicitly affect the local Taiwanese elites' orientation of equity, decentralization and majority-decision, except the orientation of participation. (3) The fact of provincial origins does not explicitly influence on the local Taiwanese elites' orientation of democratic value. (4) The facts of sex, education, and provincial origins do not have explicit influence on the orientation of democratic value, neither. Comparing with the research on local elites in the Taiwan Province which had done in 1986, the fact of sex in 1986 did explicitly affect their orientation of decentralization and equity. After several years' democratization, urbanization and universalization of information communication, the facts of sex, education, and provincial origins have less affection on the democratic value.