Academic dishonesty: Knowledge, attitudes and practices among college students

Abstract

Summary This study was conducted to determine the knowledge about academic dishonesty of college students, their attitude towards it and their practice of academic dishonesty in terms of the number of dishonest act/s done and the number of times the act/s were done during the First Semester of AY 2010-2011. The one-shot survey was used to gather data from 286 randomly chosen college students from among the six courses offered at Guimaras State College Main Campus. The survey questionnaire, validated by experts and modified accordingly, was tested at the Guimaras State College Mosqueda Campus, and underwent reliability testing using Cronbach’s alpha test for reliability before it was administered to the sample population. Collected data were processed and analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) for Windows Version 10.0 set at 0.05 level of significance. Frequency distribution and percentages were utilized to describe the respondents. Variations in knowledge, attitudes and practices were analyzed using mean, SD, t-test, ANOVA, Z-test and Chi-square. Variations found significant were further analyzed using LSD as a post hoc test. Relationships among variables were determined utilizing Gamma, Cramer’s V and Chi-square tests. Major Findings Results of the study showed that the respondents were predominantly females, mostly BS Information Technology students. They had, for the most part GPA’s of 1.60 - 2.09. Were on their first year in college and mostly heavily involved in extracurricular activities. Study results showed that almost one-half of the respondents had high level of knowledge about academic dishonesty, most hold unfavourable attitude towards it and had low level of practice in terms of number of dishonest act/s done and number of times the act/s were done. Significant variations were observed in the knowledge, attitudes and practices of the respondents when they were grouped according to their personal characteristics. In level of knowledge, students with Superior GPA’s (1.10-1.59), fourth year students, and those involved in extracurricular activities had significantly higher scores in the identification of academic acts as dishonest acts. As for attitude, females and education students showed unfavorable attitude towards academic dishonesty. As for practice of academic dishonesty, more males than females cheated frequently. Significant relationships existed among variables: the higher the level of knowledge about academic dishonesty, the more unfavorable the attitude of students was towards academic dishonesty. The number of dishonest academic act/s done was determined by the respondents’ level of knowledge and attitude: the higher the knowledge about academic dishonesty the students had, the lesser the number of dishonest act/s done; the more unfavorable the students were towards academic dishonesty, the lesser the number of dishonest act/s done. Conclusions Based on the significant findings of the study, the following conclusions were drawn. The students in Guimaras State College were generally females on their first year in college, enrolled in Information Technology, had Very Good general point average ranging from 1.6-2.09, and heavily involved in extracurricular activities for the First Semester of AY 2010-2011. The students had high level of knowledge about academic dishonesty. Their attitude towards academic dishonesty was unfavourable and they practiced only a variety of one to eight forms of dishonest academic acts in less than 20 times per semester. There were significant variations in the level of knowledge about academic dishonesty of students who had GPA’s of 1.1-1.59, who were in the fourth year, and were heavily involved in extracurricular activities. Attitude towards academic dishonesty also varied with the females and education students, possessing significantly unfavorable attitude towards academic dishonesty. In terms of number of dishonest act/s done, GSC students practiced low level of academic dishonesty, regardless of their sex, course, GPA, year level and involvement in extracurricular activities, however, in terms of number of times the dishonest academic acts were done, males were found to cheat more regularly compared to females. Significant relationships also existed among the variables: the higher the level of knowledge about academic dishonesty, the more unfavorable the attitude of students was towards academic dishonesty. The level of knowledge about academic dishonesty determined the level of practice of academic dishonesty: the higher the knowledge about academic dishonesty the students had, the lesser the number of dishonest act/s done. The attitude of students towards academic dishonesty determined the level of practice of academic dishonesty: the more unfavorable the students were towards academic dishonesty, the lesser the number of dishonest act/s done.