Abstract
Studies of academic dishonesty typically rely on potentially inaccurate self-reports or on actual behavior during less realistic tasks. Eliminating the drawbacks of such approaches, we assessed cheating during completion of actual coursework via electronic records of online behavior. Thirty-six college students completed unproctored, online quizzes. The majority of students responding to a follow-up questionnaire reported that they never considered consulting online sources during the quizzes. Computer logs reveal that although some students accessed relevant online information during the quizzes, many did not: 6 instances over 72 quiz attempts are attributable to 3 or 4 individuals. Although online environments may offer more opportunities for academic dishonesty, electronic records of online activity provide a valuable and objective means of detecting such dishonesty.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Emily Simpson is currently a graduate student in the Department of Psycology at Wake Forest University. We thank Warren Craft for comments and suggestions on an earlier draft of this article.
Notes
1Two instances of cheating occurred in the same laboratory section on consecutive weeks. For ethical reasons, we do not trace activity to specific students; thus, we do not know whether those two instances are attributable to the same or different students.