Students' perceptions of institutional and instructor based techniques for dealing with academic dishonesty

Abstract

Research suggests that a large percentage of engineering students engage in some form of academic dishonesty. To investigate this very serious concern, the authors have undertaken a research project on the Perceptions and Attitudes toward Cheating among Engineering Students (P.A.C.E.S.). The premise of this research is that a combination of pressures, rather than malicious motivations, account for most student cheating. The primary mechanism of the P.A.C.E.S study is a survey that investigates the definitions and frequency of academic dishonesty among engineering undergraduates, what factors play a role in determining when a student will cheat, and student opinions on methodologies used to discourage cheating. This paper will focus on the final portion of the P.A.C.E.S. survey; student opinions on what actions might prevent cheating. The authors examined data collected from approximately 350 engineering and pre-engineering undergraduate students at 5 institutions ranging from community colleges to a large research university. In the survey, the students were presented with 23 institutional and instructor based actions and asked to comment on whether such actions would prevent them from cheating if they might have been inclined to cheat under other circumstances. Student responses to those actions are reported in this paper and then those actions were statistically factored into groups (or factors). Those factors were then correlated with student definition and frequency of cheating. The purpose of which is the development of practical instructor based techniques to reduce academic dishonesty. Practical implementations of several student-identified techniques are then discussed.