Unproctored Internet-Based Tests of Cognitive Ability and Personality: Magnitude of Cheating and Response Distortion

Abstract

Malfeasant behaviors on tests may takeone of two forms—cheating or response distortion. Cheating is associated with ability and knowledge tests, and response distortion is associated with noncognitive/personality measures. Pursuant to the cheating and response distortion-related questions posed by Tippins (2009), the objective of the present article is to present a summary of the perti-nent results of a study (i.e., Arthur, Glaze, Villado, & Taylor, 2008) that was designed to (a) investigate the efficacy of using a speeded test format to address concerns about cheating on an unproctored Internet-based cognitive ability test and (b) docu-ment the extent to which the magnitude of response distortion on two unproctored Internet testing (UIT) personality measures was similar to or different from that reported for proctored personality measures in the extant literature. Cheating on Cognitive Ability Tests It is not unreasonable to assume that cheat-ing can and does occur in employment test-ing. Although we were unable to locate any published empirical studies on the preva-lence of cheating in employment testing, the prevalence of cheating in educational settings seems to be quite widespread. For example, reviews by Cizek (1999) and Whitley (1998) indicate that approximately half of all college students reported cheating on an exam at least once during their college education. Furthermore, it seems reasonable that the prevalence of cheating is likely to be exacerbated with the use of UIT because proctoring is the primary means by which cheating is curtailed. Several techniques to prevent and detect cheating are noted by Tippins. As yet another potential technique, Arthur et al. (2009) investigated the efficacy of the use of speeded tests that, by virtue of their time constraints, may serve to curtail the anticipated cheating behaviors. Of course, this is predicated on the assumption that a speeded administration is consonant Correspondence concerning this article should be

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