Students at Risk for Being Reported for Cheating

Student cheating has always been a problem in higher education, but detection of cheating has become easier with technology (Bertram Gallant 2008). As a result, more students are being caught and reported for cheating. While reporting cheating is not a negative, the rippling effects of reported cheating (e.g., reduced time to degree) may be felt by some populations (e.g., first-generation college students, international students) more than others. Thus, preventing cheating would be a preferable option for all involved. Identifying those at risk for being reported for cheating is a first step in developing preventive measures. Previous research has attempted to do this through the use of self-report surveys, but such research takes considerable time and resources to conduct and suffers from low response rates and social desirability bias. To address this limitation in existing research, this study links existing data from records of other-reported cheating to university registration data in order to examine 6 cheating risk factors identified in previous research: maturity level, gender, grade point average, major, international student status, and fear of punishment. The results of the study suggest that international and transfer students, particularly those who are male, in high-risk majors (like computer science, economics and engineering), and have lower grade point averages, are in particular need of preventative education. Likewise, those faculty who teach in computer science, engineering and economics majors should do more to educate implement practices to reduce the likelihood of cheating. © 2015, Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.