THE FREQUENCY OF ACADEMIC DISHONESTY AMONG STUDENTS
THE FREQUENCY OF ACADEMIC DISHONESTY AMONG STUDENTS
Hudabia Saleem
INDUSTRIAL/ORGANIZATIONAL
PSYCHOLOGIST
Government
College University, Lahore
laureatefolks@gmail.com
1.
INTRODUCTION
Professors
around the world have noticed an alarming increase in the new trend of Academic
dishonesty. In the past few years, students admitted to at least one serious
cheating instance through a survey conducted across the colleges
Webster
dictionary (1993, p132) provides us with a definition of Academic Dishonesty
as,
"Cheating
means to defraud others by utilizing deceitful means" Another definition
of academic dishonesty comes from Romney and Steinbart, 2003, p76;
“It
is the use of fraudulent means to achieve an unfair and unjust privilege for
oneself or another person. Getting
grades, academic credit, praise or recognition, deceiving and violating trust,
lying or concealing the truth comes under the category of Academic dishonesty.”
There
are different forms of academic dishonesty. From helping a friend in the exam
and sharing prohibited material to misrepresenting oneself or concealing one's
identity while taking admission in a university or college. The distinction is
made between academic dishonesty and cheating, were helping a friend in the
exam is called passive cheating while engaging in dishonest behavior to raise
one's grade is called active cheating
Academic
dishonesty can be of many types. From the sharing of prohibited material during
an exam or helping a friend to the concealing of their identity or
misrepresenting themselves while taking admission to a college. Distinctions
have been made between academic dishonesty that involves helping a friend which
is referred to as passive cheating. Contrary to this is the dishonest behavior
that raises one's grades which are referred to as active cheating.
1.1 PERSPECTIVES ON ACADEMIC DISHONESTY
There
are different perspectives on academic dishonesty; Psychological perspective
states that dishonest means are used by students because they want to pass the
exam through shortcut means. Hence students cheat because they lack schemes and
specific learning strategies. They find it easy to cheat rather than spend time
on learning. The developmental perspective states that middle and high school
students cheat more than elementary school students. The reason for this is
that at this point in academic life students are more focused on getting high
CGPA and grades as they want to excel in their career by getting good grades
2.
LITERATURE
REVIEW
A
research was conducted by Lacey, Whitherspoon, and Maldonado (2010) to examine
the frequency of students engaging in academic dishonesty. The research was
conducted on a sample of 186 college students who were a part of 11 educational
courses. Researchers explored the use of contemporary and traditional teaching
methods to discover different forms of cheating. Data were collected via survey
method by using the Academic Dishonesty Scale which was developed by McCabe in
1997. Results indicated that most of the students occasionally cheat while 20%
of the students are flagrant cheaters and they cheat via contemporary methods.
Salehi,
Khodaie, and Moghadmzadeh (2011) conducted a study in Tehran to identify the
factors that affect the probability of cheating among students. The sample
consisted of 336 students from different regions in Tehran. Regression logistic
analysis was carried out which showed the economic and social status, history
of cheating, and commitment to rules and disciplines had a significant relationship
with cheating probability. Factors like age, educational level of parents, and
age of student promote cheating behavior. Results showed that 95% of students
confessed that they cheated in an exam. The study indicated that students with
a possible history of cheating are more likely to commit fraud than other
3.
CONCLUSION
Academic
dishonesty is immensely increasing around the globe and has become a highly
sensitive issue. Policymakers have been designing policies to discourage and
reduce cheating behavior among students from all age groups. Strict penalties
have been imposed to deal with academic dishonesty. Education is a crucial part
of individual life. Education policymakers have developed several strategies to
reduce dishonest practices. Students are highly pressured by their parents to
get good grades by hook or by crook. Apart from their parent’s expectations,
the desire to get admission to the best colleges and excel in their career to
get good jobs force them to cheat. Cheating has become so common that
students no longer consider cheating immoral. The advancement in technology has
provided students with greater opportunities to cheat. Digital watches and electronic
calculators have made it easier for students to cheat. New policies should be
developed and students should be made clear of all the consequences of Academic
dishonesty to reduce cheating.
4.
REFERENCES
Lepp, L.
(2017). Undergraduate students’ views on academic dishonesty. New
Trends And Issues Proceedings On Humanities And Social Sciences, 3(1),
41-51. https://doi.org/10.18844/gjhss.v3i1.1728
McNair, D.,
& Oye, W. (2018). Developmental Responses to Incidents of Academic
Dishonesty. New Directions For Community Colleges, 2018(183),
65-72. https://doi.org/10.1002/cc.20318
Williams,
M., & Williams, M. (2012). Academic Dishonesty, Self-Control, and General
Criminality: A Prospective and Retrospective Study of Academic Dishonesty in a
New Zealand University. Ethics & Behavior, 22(2),
89-112. https://doi.org/10.1080/10508422.2011.653291
Zachek, A. (2020). The History, Evolution, and Trends of Academic Dishonesty: A Literature Review. The Nebraska Educator. https://doi.org/10.32873/unl.dc.ne006
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