Faculty Perceptions of Undergraduate Academic Dishonesty

1
Faculty Perceptions of Undergraduate Academic
Dishonesty

• Marie T. Saddlemire, Ph.D.
• University of Connecticut
• Stamford Campus
• September 14, 2005

2
Who is responsible for maintaining integrity?

• Universities as Ethical Training Grounds
• Bok (1986) and Boyer (1987) described importance
  of producing good citizens
• Kibler (1993) and Whitley Keith-Spiegel (2001)
  emphasized strength of institutional integrity
  framework
• Faculty members play the most important role.
  (Gehring, Nuss, Pavela, 1986)

3
Definition of Academic Dishonesty

• An intentional act of fraud, in which a student
  seeks to claim credit for work or effort of
  another without authorization, or uses
  unauthorized materials or fabricated information
  in any academic exercise. (Gehring, Nuss,
  Pavela, 1986)
• Four Types Cheating, Fabrication, Facilitating
  AD, and Plagiarism

4
What is known about students and academic
dishonesty?

• Serious cheating behaviors are increasing
• Students do not understand what constitutes AD
  (McCabe Trevino, 1996)
• Peers impact behavior (McCabe Trevino, 1997)
• Justification of AD behavior is common students
  weigh costs and benefits, and consider
  situational factors (McCabe, 1992 Schropshire,
  1997)

5
What is known about faculty and academic
dishonesty?

• Faculty and student definitions of AD differ
  slightly (Lipson McGavern, 1993 Nuss, 1984)
• Faculty do not proactively educate students about
  AD (Graham, et. al., 1994)
• Faculty responses to AD are inconsistent
  (Jendrek, 1989 Nuss, 1984)
• Faculty are not well-trained about AD, partly due
  to university culture (Kibler, 1994)

6
The Role of Faculty Socialization

• A ritualized process that involves the
  transmission of culture. (Tierney Rhoads,
  1994)
• Two Stages Anticipatory and Organizational
• Informal vs. Formal Socialization
• Socialization is Bi-directional

7
Research Questions

• What are faculty members present understandings
  of AD?
• What shaped faculty members understandings?
• What values informed their understandings?
• When and how do faculty members communicate their
  understandings of AD to undergraduate students?

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Eastern Universitys Student Code

• Recently underwent revisions to combine academic
  and behavioral codes
• Increased emphasis on educating faculty, staff,
  and students about the code
• Faculty were encouraged to take all reasonable
  steps to prevent academic misconduct, and
  include statement about AD on their syllabi

9
The Faculty Participants

• Audrey -- Communications
• Natalie Business/Health
• Roger -- Business
• Julia -- Arts Sciences
• Emma -- Sociology

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Proposition One

• Faculty participants self-described
  evolutionary paths were not linear, and were
  often impacted by the re-prioritization of
  personal and professional values.

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Rests Four-Component Model of Moral Behavior

• Component I Interpreting the situation as a
  moral one.
• Component II Formulating a moral course of
  action.
• Component III Deciding what to do.
• Component IV Implementing a plan of action.
  (Rest, 1986 Welfel, 1990)

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Proposition Two

• Participants values shaped their definitions of
  academic dishonesty. These definitions, in turn,
  helped faculty to determine when and to what
  extent they would address issues or communicate
  with students about academically dishonest
  conduct.

13
Proposition Three

• Faculty participants educational experiences,
  including their tendency to be successful
  students, shaped how they perceived and
  communicated about academic dishonesty.

14
Proposition Four

• When faculty participants were not supported by
  authority figures, they stopped seeking help from
  authority, and turned to other informal
  socialization networks. This usually happened as
  a result of only one negative experience with
  authority.

15
Proposition Five

• In the absence of formal socialization, faculty
  members frequently sought information, advice,
  and support through informal socialization
  networks. This played a large role in how faculty
  perceived and communicated about academic
  dishonesty.

16
Proposition Six

• Affective responses to academic dishonesty may
  help or hinder facultys ability to communicate
  with peers or students about academic dishonesty,
  especially following a cheating incident.

17
Proposition Seven

• Faculty members who have achieved congruence
  (Chickering Reisser, 1993) are more likely to
  fashion positive experiences out of incidents of
  academic dishonesty.

18
Identity Development and Congruence

• Identity is exhibited by tempering rigid
  beliefs, becoming open to other interpretations,
  weighing evidence and experience, and claiming
  ownership of a meaningful set of principles
  (Chickering and Reisser, 1993, p. 264).
• Greater ability to behave congruently comes when
  standards are applied to ones own behavior
  (Chickering and Reisser, 1993, p.264).

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The Whole Story A Cyclical Model

• Phase One Enter into faculty socialization with
  values/beliefs intact
• Phase Two Go through decision-making process
  when confronted with an incident of academic
  dishonesty
• Phase Three Re-evaluate perceptions of academic
  dishonesty

20
The Decision-Making Process

• 1) Discovery and Fact-Finding
• 2) Place Incident within Context
• 3) Evaluate the Cost and Benefits
• 4) Confront and Resolve

21
Implications for Further Research

• Study faculty who are at different stages of the
  socialization process
• Learn more about the communication process
  between faculty and students, especially during
  confrontation
• Conduct research applying Rests Four Component
  Model (Rest, 1986 Welfel, 1990) to faculty
  decision-making

22
Implications for Practice

• Explicit communication of university culture and
  policy is essential in furthering the
  bi-directional nature of socialization
• Forums for discussion should be made available at
  the university and department levels, and must be
  reinforced regularly
• Faculty ombudsman should be employed to serve as
  a confidential resource