- Departments/Offices:
- Applied Psychology in Education and Research Methodology
- Academic Programs:
- Qualitative and Quantitative Research Methodology
- Research Areas:
- Qualitative Research Methodologies/Methods; Critical Disability Studies; Cultural Studies; Discourse Studies
- Room:
- ED 4038
- Email:
- jnlester@iu.edu
- Phone:
- (812) 856-8328
About Me
Jessica Nina Lester (she/her) is a Professor of Qualitative Methodology in the Qualitative & Quantitative Methodology Program in the School of Education at IUB. Having been trained in cultural studies and qualitative research methodologies, she takes an interdisciplinary approach to much of her work, including both the methodological and substantive foci in her research program. In Jessica’s methodological work, she publishes in areas related to critical approaches to qualitative method/ology, with a particular focus on discourse and conversation analysis methods, digital tools/spaces in qualitative research, and disability in critical qualitative inquiry. In her substantive research, Jessica has 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, she 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). She teaches qualitative method/ology courses and mentors 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