Date of Graduation

Spring 2008

Degree

Master of Science in Education in Secondary Education

Department

Reading, Foundations, and Technology

Committee Chair

Eric Sheffield

Abstract

This study determined the degree to which academic dishonesty fluctuated with regard to the grade level of students, gender, core subject area, and specific types of cheating. While previous studies have been conducted to study cheating, none have attempted to look at cheating frequency rates over such a large age span of students in one concentrated locale. Data were collected from a self-report survey using a standard Likert scale and analyzed for frequencies and percentages. The working hypothesis was that there would be a significant change in cheating behaviors among students in levels from elementary to post-secondary studies. The data were statistically compared to determine if there was a significant change in cheating behaviors according to the ages and grade levels of the respondents, gender, core subject area, or specific type of cheating at a .05 level of significance. Research findings indicated cheating levels increased in middle school, peaked in high school, and then began to decrease. Few gender differences were found in academic dishonesty.

Keywords

academic dishonesty, cheating, elementary, secondary, college

Subject Categories

Education

Copyright

© Jana M. Thomas

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