A comparison of student attitudes and perceptions regarding academic dishonesty of selected class groups in 1980 and 1983 at Iowa State University

Abstract

<p>This study was a replication of a study conducted in 1980 by Barnett and Dalton of freshmen and seniors perceptions and attitudes toward academic dishonesty at Iowa State University. The purpose of this study was to ascertain what changes have occurred in these attitudes and perceptions during the three year period from 1980 to 1983, and to determine how selected variables (college affiliation, classification (year in school), sex, place of residence and size of hometown community) were related to Iowa State students' perceptions and attitudes toward academic dishonesty;Data were received from 792 respondents in 1980 and from 1011 respondents in 1983. Both studies were conducted during the spring term;Findings of the study revealed that: More seniors than freshmen reported that some faculty members did not try very hard to catch cheaters and they tend to ignore obvious instances of cheating, more female students than male students believed that some faculty members ignore clear instances of cheating. Over half of the students from the College of Engineering thought some faculty members did not try very hard to catch cheaters, while over half of students from the College of Agriculture thought they did. The majority of the respondents would not report another student for cheating, would look the other way if they observed someone cheating, would feel disgusted toward someone they observed cheating, and did not believe that reporting someone for cheating was worse than cheating. Furthermore, it was revealed that students overall did not perceive academic dishonesty to be a serious problem at Iowa State University;One of the key findings of this study was that freshmen and seniors perceptions toward academic dishonesty at Iowa State did not change significantly during a three year period.</p>