The Study of Academic Cheating Among Male and Female Students

Cheating is an unethical common phenomenon in the educational systems and is increasingly facilitated with the development of new technologies. Cheating in educational situations is done in two types: on exams and/or on assignments. In this study, the extent and prevalence of academic cheating among male and female students at Birjand University have been investigated. The research method was descriptive - comparative and research population was all the students of Birjand University. Four-hundred male and female students were selected randomly by cluster sampling method from 4 faculties and 30 academic departments. The research tool was a questionnaire which measured attitude and amount of cheating among students. The results showed that the amount of cheating in exams was less than average, but the belief on cheating as a common phenomenon was more than average. The amount of cheating in boys was significantly higher than girls, and the belief on cheating as a common phenomenon was statistically higher in girls in comparison to boys. The most common ways for cheating in the exam sessions were larcenous looking to other student's sheets and using illegal papers, and the most common ways for cheating in paperwork, were using other student's papers and taking paper from internet. From student's view, the external factors were more emphasized than internal factors as the cause for cheating. Many types of cheating can be prevented with proper legislation, educational and management system. Preventing cheating or reducing it will strengthen the spirit of scientific ethics in higher education systems. Considering the expansion of information technology in the educational systems, ways to detect and reduce electronic cheating must now be regarded by researchers.