Staff and Student Perceptions of Plagiarism and Cheating

Abstract

Cheating, plagiarism, and other forms of academic misconduct are a significant issue in higher education. In this study, the attitudes of academic staff and students in a 3 year undergraduate nursing program to various forms of academic misconduct were assessed and compared. Forty- nine percent of staff and 39 % of students thought that cheating on assessment tasks was common with “copying a few paragraphs and not citing the source ” the most common form. Differences existed in beliefs about why cheating occurred with staff endorsing the view that students lacked an understanding of the rules. Students, on the other hand, felt that wanting a better grade and having too many assessment items were strong motivators for cheating. Students also tended to favor “lighter sentences ” (e.g., warnings, resubmission) as penalties for plagiarism. This study has shown that while staff and students have similar overall perceptions about cheating and plagiarism there are areas where the differences in perception may be contributing to mixed messages about the seriousness of various cheating behaviors. Plagiarism and cheating (e.g., copying from another student in an exam) are forms of misconduct that have become areas of increasing concern for academics in higher education. Clegg and Flint (2006), in their discussion of plagiarism in the United Kingdom, described it as a spreading moral panic. The seriousness with which academics view plagiarism is reflected in institutional policies that class plagiarism as a form of academic misconduct to be dealt with by a range of penalties which may, in the most serious cases, lead to expulsion from the institution. Examples of these policies and processes for Australian and New Zealand institutions are found at the CODE project website