Academic Integrity - A Research Update

1
Academic Integrity - A Research Update

• Center for Academic Integrity
• Texas AM
• October 20, 2001

2
Cheating starts early grows

• Study of single school district in NJ (1999)
• who have copied on a test, let other copy
  homework, submitted work done by parents

3
Its nothing new!
4
2001 High School Survey

• Almost 4500 students completed a written survey
  in the 2000-2001 school year
• These students represented 25 schools around the
  country - 14 public, 11 private
• In class survey - 92 of students receiving
  surveys provided a useable response
• 52 of respondents were in 11th grade - 17 in
  9th, 16 in 10th 15 in 12th

5
Major Conclusions

• Cheating is widespread
• Students find it easy to rationalize cheating
• The Internet is raising new questions
• Students feel that many teachers ignore cheating,
  at least on occasion
• Students cheat for a variety of reasons.

6
Cheating Is Widespread

• 74 of respondents reported one or more instances
  of serious test cheating
• 72 reported one or more instances of serious
  cheating on written work
• 97 report at least one questionable activity
  (copying homework to test copying)
• More than 30 of respondents admit to repetitive,
  serious cheating on tests/exams

7
Students Rationalize Cheating

• If teachers taught better we wouldnt have to
  cheat. (12th grader in MA)
• Maybe schools and parents should focus on
  learning instead of grades. (MI- 11th)
• Cheating is a part of high school. (NJ-12th
  grade)
• You do what it takes to succeed in life. Were
  afraid to fail. (OH-11th grade)

8
Plagiarism The Internet

• 15 have submitted a paper obtained in large part
  from a term paper mill/website
• 52 have copied a few sentences from a website
  w/o citing the source
• 90 of the students using the Internet to
  plagiarize have also plagiarized from written
  sources. (The Web has created few new cheaters
  - 6 of all students.)

9
Plagiarism The Internet

• The technologies and sites available are almost
  endless - on-line Cliff Notes, language
  translators, HW chat rooms, etc.
• Many students are not sure whether submitting
  material downloaded from the Internet is
  cheating.

10
Do Teachers Ignore Cheating?

• 47 of students think teachers do sometimes
  ignore cheating.
• The major reasons
• Dont want to deal with hassle (18)
• Dont care (11)
• Not worth trouble on small assignments (7)

11
Why Students Cheat

• Lazy/dont study/didnt prepare 32
• To pass/get good grades 29
• Pressures to succeed 12
• Dont know answers/understand 9
• Time pressure (too much work) 5
• Other 13

12
Many students dont consider these behaviors
cheating

• Working on assignments with 71
• others when told not to
• Copying few sentences w/o citation 57
• Turn in work done by parents 53
• Got Q/A from someone who 50
• has already taken the test/exam

13
Random Student Comments

• Unless someone makes teachers care about
  cheating, it wont be stopped.
• It is unfair that teachers dont take it
  seriously b/c then the honest students get the
  bad end of the deal.
• Cheating will always exist as long as parents
  place the emphasis on grades rather than
  learning. The parent-student relation adds
  greatly to the dumbing down of America.

14
Random Student Comments

• I think that cheating has become so common that
  its starting to become normal in some cases.
• There is no way of stopping it. Only the
  students themselves have the power to do so.
  Restrictions arent the problem, but the morals
  of students sure are.

15
Recent College Research

• 1990 - 6,073 students at 31 schools (Codes)
• 1993 - 1,793 students at 9 public universities
• 1995 - 4,273 students at 31 schools (Replication)
  
• 1999 - Students/faculty at 21 schools (Templeton)
• 2001/2 - Assessment Project Survey

16
Caveats - College Research

• Self-report data
• Low (and decreasing) response rates
• Changing definition of cheating????
• Increasing of female respondents

17
Profile of Participating Schools

• 1995 1993
• Code No Code
• N 14 17
  9
• Enrollment 3407 3442
  12239
• Mean SAT 1249 1236
  1027
• Off Campus 16 20
  66
• Respondents 3013 3083 1793

18
Traditional Honor Codes

• Unproctored exams
• Pledge
• Student judiciary
• Non-toleration

19
Profile of Participating Schools - 1999

• Modified No
  Code
  Code Code
• N
  9 3
  9
• Enrollment 5226 17487
  5523
• Mean SAT 1207 1145
  1081
• Off Campus 39 76 59
• Respondents 1080 376
  776

20
Modified Honor Codes

• Student judiciary
• Pledge
• Academic integrity a campus-wide
  
• priority
• Rehabilitative sanctions

21
Institutional Factors That Influence Cheating

• Cheating is campus norm (cheating culture)
• School has no honor code
• Penalties for cheating are not severe
• Faculty understanding/support of academic
  integrity policies is low
• Little chance of getting caught
• Cheating higher at larger, less selective schools

22
Personal Factors That Influence Cheating

• Business/engineering majors
• Future plans involve business
• Men generally self-report more cheating
• Fraternity/sorority members
• Younger students
• Students with lower GPAs

23
Summary Cheating Indicators

• 1993 1995
  1999 Code NC Code
  Mod NC
• Test Cheating 64 30 45 23
  36 45
• Written Cheating 66 42 58
  45 51 56
• Serious Cheating 82 54 71 53
  61 68
• All Cheating 87 62 83 68
  73 83
• Repeat Test Cheating 27 7 17 6
  11 17 N 1793
  2303 1970 1091 376 763

24
Summary Cheating Indicators -Student vs. Faculty
Perspectives

• Students
  Faculty
• Test Cheating 23 - 45 29 - 55
• Written Cheating 45 - 56 76 - 83
• Serious Cheating 53 - 68 81 - 90
• All Cheating 68 - 83 85 - 91
• Repetitive Test 6 - 17 6 -
  21

25
Most frequent types of test/examination cheating

• 
  1999
  1963 1993 Code
  Mod NC
• Copied on exam 26 52 15 24
  32
• Used crib notes 6 27 9
  13 19
• Helped other 23 37 10
  19 26
• Pretest info 33 29 28
  38 54 1963 1999
  Q/A 1993 Unfair methods

26
Most frequent types of written cheating

• 1999
  
  
  1963 1993
  Code Mod NC
• Collaboration 11 49 40
  43 49
• No footnoting 49 54 36
  42 45
• Plagiarism 30 26
  14 19 19

27
Serious CheatingStudents vs. Faculty

• Students
  Faculty
• Copying on exam/crib notes 78
  95
• Help other on test 72
  94
• Plagiarism 69
  92
• Collaboration 24
  52
• Failure to footnote 35
  40
• Falsify lab data 49
  95
• Paper mill/Internet plagiarism 70
  90

28
New technologies are an issue

• Downloading papers from the Internet
• 5 - 10 admit theyve done it and one-quarter
  dont think its serious cheating
• Internet plagiarism
• 10 - 20 have cut and pasted material into a
  paper without citing the source and almost half
  dont think its serious cheating

29
http//www.turnitin.com
30
Students are notlikely to report others

• Code Mod NC
• who think typical student would report
  35 19 13
• who think typical
• student would report
• a close friend 9 3 2
• Actual reporting 14
  13 10
• (Includes anonymous reporting and general
  reporting - e.g., not naming alleged cheater)

31
Why Students HaveDifficulty Reporting

• Code Mod NC
• Not my concern/respons. 14 16
  27
• Dont want to be a rat 15 11
  15
• Dont want to get involved 7 9 8
• Friend 11 8
  4
• Lack proof 10 9 5

32
Faculty Safeguards Against Cheating

• Code Mod NC
• Change exams regularly 70 82
  79
• Discuss imp. of integrity 55 59
  63
• Information in syllabus 52 61
  57
• Remind students of policy 60 47
  48
• Different versions of exams 28 42
  49

33
Faculty self-reports of reactions to serious
cheating

• 55 have reprimanded a student
• 40 have lowered a students grade
• 30 referred to appropriate authority
• 21 have referred issue to Chair
• 6 have reacted in some other way
• 32 have done nothing!

34
Faculty satisfaction withhandling of cheating
reports

• Code
  Mod. NC
• Satisfied 61 53
  51
• Very satisfied 20 25 20
• Unsatisfied 19 22 29
• N 124 55 174

35
Feel Campus Academic Integrity Policy is
Effective

• Students Faculty
• No Code 56 30
• Modified Code 63 25
• Code 64 53

36
Some Possible Resources
37

• Academic Integrity 10 Principles
• McCabe Pavela
• December 1997
• Principles of academic integrity for faculty.

38
Principles of Academic Integrity for Faculty

• Foster an environment of trust in the
  classroom.
• Most students are mature adults, and value an
  environment free of arbitrary rules and trivial
  assignments, where trust is earned, and given.

39
Principles of AcademicIntegrity for Faculty

• Encourage student responsibility for academic
  integrity.
• Students want to work in communities where
  competition is fair, integrity is respected, and
  cheating is punished.

40
Principles of AcademicIntegrity for Faculty

• Clarify expectations for students. Faculty
  must clarify their expectations regarding
  honesty in academic work, including the nature
  and scope of collaboration. Most students want
  such guidance.

41
Principles of AcademicIntegrity for Faculty

• Reduce opportunities to engage in academic
  dishonesty. Students should not be
  tempted to engage in acts of academic dishonesty
  by ambiguous policies, undefined or unrealistic
  standards for collaboration, inadequate classroom
  management, or poor examination security.

42
Principles of AcademicIntegrity for Faculty

• Challenge academic dishonesty when it
  occurs.
• Faculty who ignore academic dishonesty send the
  message that the core values of academic life are
  not worth any significant effort to enforce.

43
Principles of AcademicIntegrity for Faculty

• Help define and support campus-wide academic
  integrity standards.
• Although faculty members should be the primary
  role models for academic integrity, defining,
  promoting, and protecting academic integrity must
  be a community-wide responsibility.

44
http//www.uga.berkeley.edu/sled/bgd/prevent.html
45
Davis (1993)

• Make sure students know criteria for evaluation.
• Learn to recognize signs of stress in students.
• Ensure equal access to study materials.
• Make sure students feel they can succeed in class
  w/o cheating.

46
Davis (1993)

• Clarify distinctions between paraphrasing,
  plagiarism, and direct citation.
• Assign specific topics.
• Change assignments across semesters.
• Require first drafts, early discussion, etc.

47
University of Maryland

• A great resource for model student codes.
• http//www.inform.umd.edu/campusinfo/
• departments/jpo/ai/index.html

48

• Some Good News
• About Academic Integrity
• McCabe Pavela
• Sept./Oct. 2000
• The basic elements of a
• modified honor code strategy.

49
Implementing aModified Honor Code

• Ask students about the nature and extent of
  campus cheating.
• Perhaps form an Academic Integrity Advisory
  Council consisting of a diverse group of student
  leaders. Invite key faculty to participate.

50
Implementing a Modified Honor Code

• Give interested students and faculty a voice in
  setting campus policy.
• Allow students to play a major role in the
  resolution of contested cases.

51
Implementing a Modified Honor Code

• Enforce significant sanctions, keyed to an
  academic integrity seminar.
• Simple penalties may not be effective deterrents.
  Consider the XF sanction with the opportunity
  to remove the X.

52
Implementing a Modified Honor Code

• Help student leaders educate their peers.
• Communicate a culture of integrity to students,
  especially new students.

53
Implementing a Modified Honor Code

• Develop fair, prompt and efficient due process
  procedures.
• (See www.umd.edu/ethics under library for a
  model code.)
• Faculty participation will be encouraged if
  faculty members are allowed some discretion to
  resolve less serious, first offenses.

54
Implementing a Modified Honor Code

• Encourage presidential leadership.
• What presidents choose to emphasize becomes a
  campus-wide focus. Interest the president
  through student-led initiatives.