Discursive Psychology for Applied Qualitative Research

Authors

Jessica N. Lester, Indiana UniversityFollow
Michelle O'Reilly, University of Leicester & Leicestershire Partnership NHS TrustFollow

Abstract

In this paper, we offer discursive psychology (DP) as a particularly useful analytic approach for engaging in applied research. We begin by overviewing the broad area of discourse analysis and then more specifically describe the contours of discursive psychology. Drawing upon a secondary, shared dataset, we provide a general discussion of the analytic process for conducting a DP informed analysis and offer some example findings. Notably, we highlight the limitations of doing DP work when working with a secondary data set and point also toward the possibilities and opportunities.

Keywords

applied research, discursive psychology, shared dataset

Author Bio(s)

Jessica Nina Lester is an Associate Professor of Inquiry Methodology in the School of Education at Indiana University. Her scholarship focuses on the study and development of qualitative methodologies, with a particular focus on conversation and discourse analysis and the centering of diverse bodyminds in critical qualitative inquiry. Please direct correspondence to jnlester@indiana.edu.

Michelle O’Reilly is an Associate Professor of Communication in Mental Health and Chartered Psychologist in Health at the University of Leicester. Michelle is a Research Consultant and Quality Improvement Advisor for Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust. Michelle specializes in research on child and adolescent mental health, mental health services, and uses qualitative methods. Please direct correspondence mjo14@leicester.ac.uk.

Publication Date

6-22-2021

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.46743/2160-3715/2021.5009

Recommended APA Citation

Lester, J. N., & O'Reilly, M. (2021). Discursive Psychology for Applied Qualitative Research. The Qualitative Report, 26(6), 2077-2093. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2021.5009