Academic Integrity Survey of First-year Students Admitted to SFU Directly from High School

The members of the Task Force on Academic Honesty and Integrity thank the 444 first-year students who participated in this survey. We appreciate the time they took at a very busy point in the fall semester to fill out the survey. We are particularly impressed by the time they spent writing comments that help us understand students' motivations for cheating and that offer helpful advice for ways to create a culture of academic integrity at SFU.

Participants expressed strong support for initiatives to reduce opportunities for academic dishonesty, to create strong incentives for avoiding cheating, and to ensure students gain the knowledge and skills necessary to maintain academic integrity. Results indicate that participants also expect less cheating at SFU than in high school, perceive the chances of being caught as higher, and expect the penalties to be more severe. But they also call for more help in understanding what academic integrity is, why it is important, and what is involved in maintaining it.

Comments indicate that students want the University to reduce not just the opportunities for cheating but the motivations for doing so, especially on exams and assignments. Participants also request help in understanding what counts as plagiarism and how to avoid it. Some students pointed out that not fully understanding what constitutes plagiarism leads to a great deal of worry and wasted effort. For instance, one student commented on staying up all night checking for missing punctuation so as not to be caught plagiarizing.

Participants’ comments were particularly helpful in explaining motivations for cheating. A major issue is pressure for grades. Several students noted that for them and their peers, high school is less about learning than about obtaining the grades necessary to gain admission to university. For many, university is seen as the only way to get a good job and to get ahead in the world. These pressures may help explain the reported amount of cheating associated with exams and assignments in high school.

Comments also suggest that if students do not understand why they are asked to do something in a course or if they perceive a request as unfair, they may be tempted to ignore instructions and to work in ways they find comfortable or productive. For instance, this survey indicates that high school students are used to working in groups and often do so even when explicitly told to work on their own. Common explanations are that they work together because of too little time to complete a task on their own, not enough help from the teacher, or because they learn best that way. This tendency to ignore instructions they do not understand is also evident in comments relating to falsifying lab data. Students who did not understand the value of performing laboratory experiments often perceived these experiments as busy work.