Its Wrong, But Everybody Does It - Essay Example

1 Academic dishonesty is attempt to present others’ academic work as their own. 2 Estimated rates of cheating have risen steadily through the decades from around 23% in 1941 to as much as 90% or possibly even higher in 1994 and 1995.3 Cheating on tests and homework and plagiarising from books and articles.4 Factors that relate to cheating include:Lower GPA and IQ scores – this puts pressure on students Living in rural areas – this makes students more isolated and in need of helpMembers of fraternities or sororities –this makes students conscious of peer pressureAge and school grade – younger students cheat more than older studentsGender – male students report more cheating, but it is disputed whether this is a self-report factor or an actual difference in cheating 5 Need for a particular grade, lack of time for study, the view that everyone cheats, desire to help a friend, unplanned opportunities, negative views about the assessor or assessment are all cited, which means that motives are extremely varied6 The aim is to fill a gap in the research by studying the way that students assess different motives for cheating and how this influences their own cheating behavior.

7 Most support: (a) I think it is likely that students will depend a lot on the specific details of each situation. Least support: (d) I believe that males and females are equally likely to cheat and that it is wrong to have a different expectation of each.8 A pilot study was conducted and an exercise involving the interpretation of a vignette was used.9 Some of the concepts are similar, but slightly different terminology is used. For example the term “prosocial” covers pressure to obtain high grades, but it puts a positive spin on it.

10 The table shows that the participants are in quite close agreement about the least acceptable motivations for cheating, because the standard deviation is low at between .67 and .80. The participants are not so much in agreement about the most acceptable kinds of cheating because the standard deviation is higher.11 Males report higher tolerance of cheating because of need to pass the class, fear of being put on academic probation and needing a good grade to maintain athletic eligibility. These are all status related factors.

12 Males report higher tolerance of cheating both in terms of copying homework and copying an exam. This shows they are willing to take more risk. It is interesting also that males show significantly more willingness to let others copy their homework. They support each other to achieve male status.13 Motive influences the way that school and college students view cheating with some motives being more acceptable than others.14 Older students cheat less, but it is not entirely clear whether students bound for college cheat more than those who do not proceed to college.

15 The results suggest that students cheat for different reasons, and that they rate various motives differently. This suggests that more research is needed to understand why some types of motive are seen as more acceptable than others.8