“Only a small proportion of academically dishonest students ever receive an official

report of academic dishonesty” (Beasley 2016). This study compared the demographics of those

who have been reported for cheating with those of an entire undergraduate student body and of

self-reported cheaters. The study found that international students are much more likely than

domestic students to get reported. There is a distinct difference between students who self-report

engaging in academically dishonest behavior and those that get reported for it. Most notably, not

everyone gets caught, not everyone who gets caught gets reported, not everyone who gets

reported knew they were cheating, and, even if aware, they may not self-report it to a researcher.

This study compared the demographics of those who have been reported with those of the larger

student body at MSU and of self-reported cheaters in order to discover trends regarding the

differences between those that self-report academically dishonest behavior to a researcher and

those who get reported for it. The largest finding from this study was that international students

are much more likely than domestic students to get reported. The study also suggests that seniors

are less likely than underclassmen to get reported, and that there is not a significant

disproportionality in reports according to gender. Much of the study shows that international

students are more likely to cheat and/or more likely to get caught cheating. It seems that they are

also more likely to be reported.

Methods

“The method for this study required the instructors to submit an academic dishonesty

report for any student they penalize for a violation of academic integrity, which includes

plagiarism, test cheating, falsification of data, and other duplicities Thus, not all detected acts are

reported, and reported acts differ in gratuitousness” (Beasley 2016). Then, students are placed

into a remediation class that they must successfully complete in order to finish their
undergraduate program. For the main part of this study, Beasley analyzed the differences

between the demographics of instructor-reported undergraduate students at MSU and the

demographic characteristics of the entire MSU undergraduate student body. He also assessed the

correlations between certain demographic characteristics and report characteristics (e.g., types of

misconduct). He then “examined instructor-reported student responses to a question from the

remediation course: “What, if anything, would have stopped you from committing your act of

academic dishonesty?” The character of these responses was used to address whether the

disproportionalities uncovered were the result of differences illustrated in the existing literature

regarding the frequency of cheating behavior among various types of students” (Beasley 2016).

I think these findings are interesting because it seems to go hand in hand from what I

have heard when I was in college. Anytime I talked to international students during my

undergrad they always said how much easier school was here in the USA instead of where they

are from...it makes me wonder. Is that because other countries are stricter about cheating? Are

American colleges not as serious about holding a high expectation for academic integrity? It

makes me ponder, is academic dishonesty a trend because it is ignored by teachers like stated in

the article? This was a great read. Very eye opening! I will be sure to hold my students to a high

standard and expect their own learning and work.

 Resources

Beasley, E. M. (2016). Comparing the Demographics of Students Reported for Academic

Dishonesty to Those of the Overall Student Population. Ethics and Behavior, 26(1), 45–

62. Retrieved from

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