Designed to meet a growing need for clear guidance on how to carry out research on disability issues, this text aims to demonstrate the value of a critical attention to social, rather than medical, approaches to disability research. It reviews a variety of studies on the lives of the disabled. Different quantitive and qualitative methodological frameworks are considered, ranging from analysis of observation data concerning disabled children in schools to conversation-based data which focuses on family life. A central theme concerns the pivotal role of disabled people in research. The book provides substantive examples of the dilemmas which face researchers and connects these to ideas for individual action. The book should prove of interest to disabled and non-disabled researchers, professionals and students from a wide range of disciplines.