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How Common is Cheating in Online Exams and did it Increase During the COVID-19 Pandemic? A Systematic Review

Phil Newton Orcid Logo, Keioni Essex

Journal of Academic Ethics, Volume: 22, Issue: 2, Pages: 323 - 343

Swansea University Author: Phil Newton Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1007/s10805-023-09485-5

Abstract

Academic misconduct is a threat to the validity and reliability of online examinations, and media reports suggest that misconduct spiked dramatically in higher education during the emergency shift to online exams caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. This study reviewed survey research to determine how c...

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Published in: Journal of Academic Ethics
ISSN: 1570-1727 1572-8544
Published: Springer Science and Business Media LLC 2024
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa63995
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spelling v2 63995 2023-07-28 How Common is Cheating in Online Exams and did it Increase During the COVID-19 Pandemic? A Systematic Review 6e0a363d04c407371184d82f7a5bddc8 0000-0002-5272-7979 Phil Newton Phil Newton true false 2023-07-28 MEDS Academic misconduct is a threat to the validity and reliability of online examinations, and media reports suggest that misconduct spiked dramatically in higher education during the emergency shift to online exams caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. This study reviewed survey research to determine how common it is for university students to admit cheating in online exams, and how and why they do it. We also assessed whether these self-reports of cheating increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, along with an evaluation of the quality of the research evidence which addressed these questions. 25 samples were identified from 19 Studies, including 4672 participants, going back to 2012. Online exam cheating was self-reported by a substantial minority (44.7%) of students in total. Pre-COVID this was 29.9%, but during COVID cheating jumped to 54.7%, although these samples were more heterogenous. Individual cheating was more common than group cheating, and the most common reason students reported for cheating was simply that there was an opportunity to do so. Remote proctoring appeared to reduce the occurrence of cheating, although data were limited. However there were a number of methodological features which reduce confidence in the accuracy of all these findings. Most samples were collected using designs which makes it likely that online exam cheating is under-reported, for example using convenience sampling, a modest sample size and insufficient information to calculate response rate. No studies considered whether samples were representative of their population. Future approaches to online exams should consider how the basic validity of examinations can be maintained, considering the substantial numbers of students who appear to be willing to admit engaging in misconduct. Future research on academic misconduct would benefit from using large representative samples, guaranteeing participants anonymity. Journal Article Journal of Academic Ethics 22 2 323 343 Springer Science and Business Media LLC 1570-1727 1572-8544 Academic Integrity, Assessment, Covid-19, Distance Learning, Digital Education 1 6 2024 2024-06-01 10.1007/s10805-023-09485-5 COLLEGE NANME Medical School COLLEGE CODE MEDS Swansea University SU Library paid the OA fee (TA Institutional Deal) Swansea University 2024-06-06T14:22:25.6917177 2023-07-28T10:30:43.5628946 Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences Swansea University Medical School - Medicine Phil Newton 0000-0002-5272-7979 1 Keioni Essex 2 63995__28317__73a8f9552ff6419b998342a7c283d820.pdf 63995.VOR.pdf 2023-08-18T12:05:21.4416280 Output 1301867 application/pdf Version of Record true This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. true eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title How Common is Cheating in Online Exams and did it Increase During the COVID-19 Pandemic? A Systematic Review
spellingShingle How Common is Cheating in Online Exams and did it Increase During the COVID-19 Pandemic? A Systematic Review
Phil Newton
title_short How Common is Cheating in Online Exams and did it Increase During the COVID-19 Pandemic? A Systematic Review
title_full How Common is Cheating in Online Exams and did it Increase During the COVID-19 Pandemic? A Systematic Review
title_fullStr How Common is Cheating in Online Exams and did it Increase During the COVID-19 Pandemic? A Systematic Review
title_full_unstemmed How Common is Cheating in Online Exams and did it Increase During the COVID-19 Pandemic? A Systematic Review
title_sort How Common is Cheating in Online Exams and did it Increase During the COVID-19 Pandemic? A Systematic Review
author_id_str_mv 6e0a363d04c407371184d82f7a5bddc8
author_id_fullname_str_mv 6e0a363d04c407371184d82f7a5bddc8_***_Phil Newton
author Phil Newton
author2 Phil Newton
Keioni Essex
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container_title Journal of Academic Ethics
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container_start_page 323
publishDate 2024
institution Swansea University
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doi_str_mv 10.1007/s10805-023-09485-5
publisher Springer Science and Business Media LLC
college_str Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences
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hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofmedicinehealthandlifesciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences
department_str Swansea University Medical School - Medicine{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences{{{_:::_}}}Swansea University Medical School - Medicine
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description Academic misconduct is a threat to the validity and reliability of online examinations, and media reports suggest that misconduct spiked dramatically in higher education during the emergency shift to online exams caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. This study reviewed survey research to determine how common it is for university students to admit cheating in online exams, and how and why they do it. We also assessed whether these self-reports of cheating increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, along with an evaluation of the quality of the research evidence which addressed these questions. 25 samples were identified from 19 Studies, including 4672 participants, going back to 2012. Online exam cheating was self-reported by a substantial minority (44.7%) of students in total. Pre-COVID this was 29.9%, but during COVID cheating jumped to 54.7%, although these samples were more heterogenous. Individual cheating was more common than group cheating, and the most common reason students reported for cheating was simply that there was an opportunity to do so. Remote proctoring appeared to reduce the occurrence of cheating, although data were limited. However there were a number of methodological features which reduce confidence in the accuracy of all these findings. Most samples were collected using designs which makes it likely that online exam cheating is under-reported, for example using convenience sampling, a modest sample size and insufficient information to calculate response rate. No studies considered whether samples were representative of their population. Future approaches to online exams should consider how the basic validity of examinations can be maintained, considering the substantial numbers of students who appear to be willing to admit engaging in misconduct. Future research on academic misconduct would benefit from using large representative samples, guaranteeing participants anonymity.
published_date 2024-06-01T14:22:26Z
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