Statistics? You Must be Joking: The Application and Evaluation of Humor when Teaching Statistics

Figures & data

Table 1. The labels, definitions, percent of sample that contributed statements, and representative comments for the final categories resulting from the qualitative data coding methods.

Label	Definition	Percent	Example statements
Amusement	Humor provided entertainment and made students laugh during the classes	53%	It's a good way to make it more fun Made it more enjoyable
Lightened the mood	Humor lightened the mood of the lecture and helped reduce anxiety and stress in students	47%	It lightens the mood rather than just theory, theory, theory It just lightens it rather than being anxious during the whole class you have a bit of comic relief
Helped maintain attention	Humor enhanced attention to the content and brought students back on task if they were losing concentration	45%	If you are constantly getting hit with the equation, facts and materials you might just drift of so it makes you pay attention I think it was good because sometimes when you are tired you might lose concentration; it just brings you back
Provided a mental break	Humor temporarily took the students mind away from statistics and provided a mental break	34%	You can switch off let your mind rest then get back to it They were a bit of a break from the routine and gave you a bit of a refresher
Reduces monotony	Humor reduced the monotony and boredom associated with the lectures	24%	It took away the boringness of stats It kept you going when you were a bit bored or anything like that
Broke up content	Humor broke up the content into more manageable amounts of Information	18%	Statistics is pretty dense so not so much hitting you with facts and equations and that sort of thing Break up the theory
Relevance of humor	The impact of humor was influenced by the relevance it had to the statistical concept being taught	18%	Some of the humorous things were relevant to what the example was so that helped a lot to I thought they were a bit irrelevant — like I rather they go and do the material we have to learn
Helped learning	Humor aided student learning	16%	It helped you remember for the exams - the concepts Helps you to learn a bit more
Motivated to stay and attend class	Humor acted as incentive for students to attend and remain in class	11%	I could be conned into turning up to every lecture just to see the funny pictures It motivated me to stay longer until the end of the lecture

Table 2. A contingency table showing the distribution of positive and negative cognitive and affective statements made by each student.

	Statements related to cognitive issues
		Positive	Negative	Positive and Negative	Total
Statements	Positive	26	4	4	34
related to	Negative	0	0	2	2
affective	Positive and Negative	2	0	0	2
issues	Total	28	4	6	38

Note: Cognitive issues were statements categorized as Helped learning, Helped maintain attention, Provided a mental break, Reduces monotony, Broke up content, and Relevance of humor. Affective issues were statements categorized as Amusement, Lightened the mood, and Motivated to stay and attend class.