The inquiry into people's awareness of TB has largely followed two schools of thought. The earlier conception about the awareness of TB was centered on the extent of people's knowledge about the disease and its characteristics, how the infection spread, when and where it typically occurred etc. However, several studies such as the one conducted by the NTI in rural Anantapur district in the late '50s and which led to the formulation of the DTP, demonstrated that, in contrast to the hypothesis, knowledge about the main features of TB was quite high. Other, more recent studies conducted in India and, studies from S. Korea and Japan, where socio-economic conditions are very different, obtained similar results.

The second, more recent approach to awareness focussed on physical suffering caused by the symptoms of TB. This approach was highlighted by the series of NTI studies beginning with their seminal 1963 study titled, "A sociological study of awareness of symptoms among persons with pulmonary TB". Based on the results, it was suggested that awareness of symptoms and action-taking, by way of contacting institutions of modern medicine, be used as parameters for measuring the problem of TB in the community, sociologically and for TB programme assessment. Further, it was emphasized that this approach must be pursued vigorously through action research as it appeared to show great promise in breaking down the barriers of traditional thinking, prejudices and unhelpful attitudes better and more quickly.