Dr. Paulus specializes in the area of methodological and technological innovation in qualitative research methods, currently focused on the reflexive use of generative AI. She is co-author with Dr. Jessica Lester of Doing Qualitative Research in a Digital World (Sage) and with Dr. Alyssa Wise of Looking for Insight, Transformation and Learning in Online Talk (Routledge.) 

Dr. Paulus has facilitated numerous workshops in national and international contexts, including as a Fulbright Distinguished Scholar in Humanities and Social Sciences at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poland. She served in Lesotho, Southern Africa as a Peace Corps Volunteer and has been a visiting scholar at the Center for Advanced Internet Studies in Germany, the University of Innsbruck, and the University of Tasmania. Dr. Paulus has published over 90 peer-reviewed journal articles and co-edited four special journal issues. She and her co-authors won the 2018 Neal R. Norrick Special Issue award for The Microanalysis of Online Data in the Journal of Pragmatics.