The “Epidemic” of Cheating Depends on Its Definition: A Critique of Inferring the Moral Quality of “Cheating in Any Form”
- 17 March 2015
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Taylor & Francis Ltd in Ethics & Behavior
- Vol. 26 (4), 330-343
- https://doi.org/10.1080/10508422.2015.1026595
Abstract
The incidence and moral implications of cheating depend on how it is defined and measured. Research that defines and operationalizes cheating as an inventory of acts, that is, “cheating in any form,” has often fueled concern that cheating is reaching “epidemic proportions.” Such inventory measures appear, however, to conflate moral and administrative conceptions of the problem. Inasmuch as the immorality of behavior is a function of moral judgment, academic misconduct is immoral only when it is intentional, and the greatest moral weight should be ascribed to violations that students judge to be the most “serious.”Keywords
This publication has 59 references indexed in Scilit:
- Cheating in Advantaged High Schools: Prevalence, Justifications, and Possibilities for ChangeEthics & Behavior, 2012
- Reasons Not to Cheat, Academic-Integrity Responsibility, and Frequency of CheatingThe Journal of Experimental Education, 2011
- Why Do College Students Cheat?Journal of Business Ethics, 2009
- Academic dishonesty, ethical norms and learningAssessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 2009
- Using Structural Equation Modeling to Validate the Theory of Planned Behavior as a Model for Predicting Student CheatingThe Review of Higher Education, 2009
- Additional Data on Academic Dishonesty and a Proposal for RemediationTeaching of Psychology, 1995
- Adolescents' Cognitions and Attributions for Academic Cheating: A Cross-National StudyThe Journal of Psychology, 1993
- The Relationship Between Academic Dishonesty and Unethical Business PracticesJournal of Education for Business, 1993
- A Longitudinal Study of Moral JudgmentMonographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 1983
- Cheating in SchoolThe School Review, 1932