Date of Award

Spring 5-1-2003

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Educational Leadership

First Advisor

Gregory R. Ulm

Second Advisor

Robert Boyd

Third Advisor

Ann Marriner Tomey

Abstract

The purposes of this study were to: 1) examine the relationship between student perceptions of faculty attitudes toward academic dishonesty and incidents of student academic dishonesty, 2) to investigate the relationship between student's perceptions of institutional rigor and incidents of academic dishonesty, 3) to determine ifthere are differences in nursing students ratings of seriousness of types of academic dishonesty and 4) if there are differences in the frequency of types of academic dishonesty. This study examines the perception of32 senior baccalaureate nursing students in the Midwest. The theoretical framework used in this study was social learning theory, specifically rolemodeling developed by Bandura (1977). Faculty role-modeling of professional values and articulating the significance of academic integrity on a consistent basis may serve as a mode of socializing students into the desired behaviors of the nursing profession, which would include academic integrity or honesty. Data was collected via self-administered surveys (modified Academic Integrity Survey) and analyzed by using Pearson Correlations, Repeated Measures ANOV A, and paired sample t tests. There was a significant negative relationship between student perceptions of faculty attitude toward academic dishonesty and incidence of dishonesty. As students perceived faculty as viewing academic dishonesty in a more serious manner, students reported they were less likely to engage in this form of behavior. However, there was no significant relationship between student perception of an institution's rigor and incidence of academic dishonesty. Rigor, in this study included such things as competitiveness, pressure, severity of penalties, chances of getting caught, the average student's understanding of school's policies related to student cheating, fuculty support of those policies and effectiveness of the policies. The broad definition of rigor may have influenced the findings. Students perceived passive cheating as the most serious form of cheating and also as the one engaged in least. Passive cheating was categorized as acts which assist others to cheat such as writing a paper for another student. Active cheating were those acts committed to help the individual student cheat. Students were more likely to cheat for themselves than to assist others to do so and perceived that helping someone else cheat was more serious.

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