Class-related academic boredom among university students: a qualitative research on boredom coping strategies

ABSTRACT

Although in recent years, researchers have shown increasing interest in achievement-related emotions, academic boredom included, still the vast majority of the studies that have been carried out on the issue, so far, employed solely or primarily quantitative methods, were largely confined to the field of psychology and were conducted in a limited number of countries. The purpose of this work is to bridge the gap in the literature by presenting a case from an Eastern/Central European country (Poland), based on the qualitative mode of data collection and processing. The paper offers a detailed sociological description and alanysis of university students’ behavours when bored in class applying the taxonony of boredom coping strategies proposed in the relevant literature. The study also introduces the notion of classroom social morphology and its relationship with the employment of various boredom coping strategies and also readdresses the concept of class-related anticipatory boredom and the idea of educational burnout experienced by some students at the end of their studies.

KEYWORDS:

• Higher education
• academic boredom
• boredom coping strategies
• qualitative methods
• Poland

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Science Centre, Poland [grant number UMO-2016/21/N/HS6/0902].

Notes on contributors

Mariusz Finkielsztein

Mariusz Finkielsztein is a PhD student in the Institute of Sociology, University of Warsaw. His main research interests concern boredom and higher education. His PhD thesis is entitled: ‘On the social significance of boredom. The phenomenon of boredom in a university milieu’. He was also the organiser of the International Interdisciplinary Boredom Conference in Warsaw between 2015 and 2017.