The current state of research on academic dishonesty amongengineering students

摘要

Academic dishonesty, or cheating, has become a serious problem atcolleges and universities. This is particularly true of engineeringstudents who, are among the most likely to cheat in college. The presentpaper reviews the literature as a basis of broadly understandingacademic dishonesty. This discussion focuses on three primary issues:(1) perceptions of and attitudes towards cheating, (2) reasons forstudent cheating, and (3) methods of promoting academic integrity. Acurrent research project being developed by the authors is alsodiscussed. The premise of this research is that students are constantlymaking ethical judgements between the pressure to cheat and their ownmoral beliefs and social norms. The goal then is to uncover the reasonsfor and frequency of student cheating and to develop best practices forhelping engineering students avoid this pressure. Particular topics ofdiscussion include a rationale for the research methodology, an outlineof the questions we hope the survey will answer and a discussion of theethical implications of conducting research of this type