- Departments/Offices:
- Counseling and Educational Psychology
- Academic Programs:
- Qualitative and Quantitative Research Methodology
- Research Areas:
- Qualitative Research Methodologies/Methods; Critical Disability Studies; Cultural Studies; Discourse Studies
- Room:
- ED 4060
- Email:
- jnlester@indiana.edu
- Phone:
- (812) 856-8328
- Resume/CV
About Me
Having been trained in cultural studies and qualitative research methodology, I take an interdisciplinary approach to much of my work, including both the methodological and substantive foci in my research program. In my methodological work, I publish in areas related to qualitative method/ology, with a particular focus on technical and pragmatic concerns in qualitative inquiry (e.g., establishing validity), discourse and conversation analysis methods, digital tools/spaces in qualitative research, and disability in critical qualitative inquiry. In much of my substantive research, I have sought to examine and illustrate how everyday and institutional language use makes visible what and who becomes positioned as normal and abnormal in relation to the oft taken-for-granted normality-abnormality binary. Most recently, I co-authored the book, Doing Qualitative Research in a Digital World (Sage, 2022), and co-edited the volume, Centering Diverse Bodyminds in Critical Qualitative Inquiry (Routledge, 2021). At Indiana University, I teach qualitative method/ology courses and mentor graduate students in qualitative inquiry from a range of disciplines.
My Books

Doing Qualitative Research in a Digital World
Trena M. Paulus, Jessica N. Lester

Centering Diverse Bodyminds in Critical Qualitative Inquiry
Jessica Nina Lester, Emily A. Nusbaum

The Social, Cultural, and Political Discourses of Autism
Jessica Nina Lester, Michelle O'Reilly

Applied Conversation Analysis: Social Interaction in Institutional Settings
Jessica N. Lester, Michelle O'Reilly

Using Naturally Occurring Data in Qualitative Health Research: A Practical Guide
Nikki Kiyimba, Jessica Nina Lester, Michelle O'Reilly

An Introduction to Educational Research Connecting Methods to Practice
Chad R. Lochmiller, Jessica N. Lester

Examining Mental Health through Social Constructionism The Language of Mental Health
Michelle O'Reilly, Jessica Nina Lester

Digital Tools for Qualitative Research
Trena M. Paulus, Jessica N. Lester, Paul G. Dempster

Improving Communication in Mental Health Settings: Evidence-Based Recommendations from Practitioner-led Research
Michelle O'Reilly, Jessica Lester

Discursive Psychology and Disability
Jessica Nina Lester

Discursive Perspectives on Education Policy and Implementation
Jessica Nina Lester, Chad R. Lochmiller, Rachael E. Gabriel

A Practical Guide to Social Interaction Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders
Michelle O'Reilly, Jessica Nina Lester, Tom Muskett

The Palgrave Handbook of Adult Mental HealthThe Palgrave Handbook of Adult Mental Health
Michelle O’Reilly, Jessica Nina Lester

The Palgrave Handbook of Child Mental Health
Michelle O’Reilly, Jessica Nina Lester

Performances of Research: Critical Issues in K-12 Education
Rachael Gabriel, Jessica Nina Lester