For both of these studies, a number of students were randomly selected to receive surveys in their campus mailbox. Students were questioned about their attitudes about cheating, how often they cheated, and if they considered certain activities to be cheating. These detailed questionairres guaranteed anonymity to the students filling them out.
Thirty three percent of the students in 1993 felts that academic dishonesty is a problem at WPI, compared with 40% from the 1996 data. The actual incidents or perceptions about cheating fluctuated bewteen the two studies; for example, in 1993, 11.5% said they wrote a lab report without actually doing the experiment, compared to 14% in 1996, but in 1996, 21% said they copied from another student during a quiz, compared to 10% in 1996.
When asked how they felt towards another student they observed cheating, 26.4% felt indifferent, 22.3% felt disgust and 11.9% felt anger. Juniors and seniors were more likely to mention the incident to a friend, but no students reported the cheating to a faculty member. 22.3% felt that reporting someone for cheating is worse than actually cheating. Also, no students reported to a faculty member if another student asked them for help on an exam.
About a quarter of the students felt that academic dishonesty is, in some cases, justified; half of those agreed that it is justified if a student has to pass a course.
From the survey data, there seems to be uncertainty about the definition of acts of academic dishonesty. 13.5% did not feel that using a cheat sheet is academically dishonest. 38.9% did not feel that previewing a test from a file against their instructor's permission as cheating. 37.8% felt that obtaining test questions in advance from another student is not academically dishonest.
There is obviously some ambilvelance as to what actually consititutes academic dishonesty. In addition, a fair number of students engage in academically dishonest acts. These facts have motivated an effort to assess the current academic honesty policy, and to create a policy that is more effective.