Date of Award
2003
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Fischler Graduate School of Education and Human Services
Advisor
Todd Curless
Committee Member
A. Jared Bucker
Committee Member
Barbara Packer
Keywords
academic achievement, college students, content-irrelevant humor, demographic variables, distance education, distance learning, higher education, humor, instructor humor, research recommendations, student motivation, test anxiety, test construction, test performance, testing
Abstract
The purpose of the study was to find if humor in testing alleviates test anxiety in distance learning students. The study determined if students given a test with humor had better performance than students given a “normal” test. The study included two groups of students: an experimental group that had humor inserted into the tests and a control group that had a normal test. The humor was “content irrelevant humor”, humor not related to the subject tested. Classes that teach at a distance were used in this study. The study measured the anxiety levels of students preceding the test, the performance of the students on the test, and demographic variables.
The first research question was: “Does humor in a test affect test performance?” It was determined that distance education students given a test with humor did not perform better than distance learning students given a test without humor. The second research question was: “Does humor in a test affect test performance based upon anxiety level?” It was determined that distance education students with high anxiety given a test with humor perform did not perform better than distance education students with high anxiety given a test without humor.
The use of the content-irrelevant humor in the study and the instructors’ use of humor in the class might be the reason for the results. Content-irrelevant humor might not provide the “cognitive shift” in perspective that is necessary to relieve test anxiety. It is unknown if the instructors used humor in their classes. Humor in the class might have prepared the student for humor on the test and also familiarized the students with brand of humor.
This study had courses that were different than previous studies and it used distance learning students. Unforeseen factors in the study were the delivery of the study material by mail instead of electronic form and whether students followed the instructions in the study.
It is recommended that future research include a broader range of classes when studying humor, test anxiety, and performance. Also, more studies are needed in studying humor and test anxiety with distance-education students due to the small sample in this study. Finally, further study is needed in the relationship between humor in the class and humor in a test.