Lack of ethics or lack of knowledge? European upper secondary students’ doubts and misconceptions about integrity issues
Abstract Plagiarism and other transgressions of the norms of academic integrity appear to be a persistent problem among upper secondary students. Numerous surveys have revealed high levels of infringement of what appear to be clearly stated rules. Less attention has been given to students’ understan...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
BMC
2022-08-01
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| Series: | International Journal for Educational Integrity |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1007/s40979-022-00113-0 |
| _version_ | 1811215714903654400 |
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| author | Mikkel Willum Johansen Mads Paludan Goddiksen Mateja Centa Christine Clavien Eugenijus Gefenas Roman Globokar Linda Hogan Marcus Tang Merit Søren Saxmose Nielsen I. Anna S. Olsson Margarita Poškutė Una Quinn Júlio Borlido Santos Rita Santos Céline Schöpfer Vojko Strahovnik P. J. Wall Peter Sandøe Thomas Bøker Lund |
| author_facet | Mikkel Willum Johansen Mads Paludan Goddiksen Mateja Centa Christine Clavien Eugenijus Gefenas Roman Globokar Linda Hogan Marcus Tang Merit Søren Saxmose Nielsen I. Anna S. Olsson Margarita Poškutė Una Quinn Júlio Borlido Santos Rita Santos Céline Schöpfer Vojko Strahovnik P. J. Wall Peter Sandøe Thomas Bøker Lund |
| author_sort | Mikkel Willum Johansen |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Plagiarism and other transgressions of the norms of academic integrity appear to be a persistent problem among upper secondary students. Numerous surveys have revealed high levels of infringement of what appear to be clearly stated rules. Less attention has been given to students’ understanding of academic integrity, and to the potential misconceptions and false beliefs that may make it difficult for them to comply with existing rules and handle complex real-life situations. In this paper we report findings from a survey of European upper secondary students’ views on issues relating to academic integrity. We relate these findings to the students’ training about academic integrity, self-reported level of questionable behavior and country of study. A total of 1654 students at 51 institutions located in 6 European countries participated in the study. The participants generally believed they had a good understanding of the rules applying to them and knew how to behave in compliance with norms of academic integrity. The results indicate, however, that often, in practice, this belief was mistaken. Many students had an inadequate understanding of core elements of academic integrity. They were uncertain about how to act, and they struggled in the handling of complex situations that require context-sensitive judgement. While some differences between countries were identified, they were modest and exhibited no clear pattern. Our results also suggest that reducing students’ level of uncertainty and, to a lesser degree, improving their level of knowledge could lead them to engage less in certain types of questionable behaviours. Surprisingly, the effect of academic training is modest and ambiguous. The study also confirms that perception of peer behaviour has the strongest association with student engagement in questionable behaviours. Thus, academic integrity at the upper secondary level cannot be explained simply in terms of individual ethics or knowledge. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T06:27:02Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-766629db03934a99b732201ea482f01a |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1833-2595 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T06:27:02Z |
| publishDate | 2022-08-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | International Journal for Educational Integrity |
| spelling | doaj.art-766629db03934a99b732201ea482f01a2022-12-22T03:44:07ZengBMCInternational Journal for Educational Integrity1833-25952022-08-0118112510.1007/s40979-022-00113-0Lack of ethics or lack of knowledge? European upper secondary students’ doubts and misconceptions about integrity issuesMikkel Willum Johansen0Mads Paludan Goddiksen1Mateja Centa2Christine Clavien3Eugenijus Gefenas4Roman Globokar5Linda Hogan6Marcus Tang Merit7Søren Saxmose Nielsen8I. Anna S. Olsson9Margarita Poškutė10Una Quinn11Júlio Borlido Santos12Rita Santos13Céline Schöpfer14Vojko Strahovnik15P. J. Wall16Peter Sandøe17Thomas Bøker Lund18Department of Science Education, University of CopenhagenDepartment of Food and Resource Economics, University of CopenhagenFaculty of Theology, University of LjubljanaInstitute for Ethics, History and the Humanities, Faculty of Medicine, University of GenevaCentre for Health Ethics, Law and History, Institute of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius UniversityFaculty of Theology, University of LjubljanaSchool of Ecumenics, Trinity College DublinInstitute of Architecture, Urbanism and Landscape, Royal Danish AcademyDepartment of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, University of Copenhageni3S – Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Universidade do PortoCentre for Health Ethics, Law and History, Institute of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius UniversitySchool of Ecumenics, Trinity College Dublini3S – Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Universidade do Portoi3S – Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Universidade do PortoInstitute for Ethics, History and the Humanities, Faculty of Medicine, University of GenevaFaculty of Theology, University of LjubljanaADAPT Centre, School of Computer Science and Statistics, Trinity College DublinDepartment of Food and Resource Economics, University of CopenhagenDepartment of Food and Resource Economics, University of CopenhagenAbstract Plagiarism and other transgressions of the norms of academic integrity appear to be a persistent problem among upper secondary students. Numerous surveys have revealed high levels of infringement of what appear to be clearly stated rules. Less attention has been given to students’ understanding of academic integrity, and to the potential misconceptions and false beliefs that may make it difficult for them to comply with existing rules and handle complex real-life situations. In this paper we report findings from a survey of European upper secondary students’ views on issues relating to academic integrity. We relate these findings to the students’ training about academic integrity, self-reported level of questionable behavior and country of study. A total of 1654 students at 51 institutions located in 6 European countries participated in the study. The participants generally believed they had a good understanding of the rules applying to them and knew how to behave in compliance with norms of academic integrity. The results indicate, however, that often, in practice, this belief was mistaken. Many students had an inadequate understanding of core elements of academic integrity. They were uncertain about how to act, and they struggled in the handling of complex situations that require context-sensitive judgement. While some differences between countries were identified, they were modest and exhibited no clear pattern. Our results also suggest that reducing students’ level of uncertainty and, to a lesser degree, improving their level of knowledge could lead them to engage less in certain types of questionable behaviours. Surprisingly, the effect of academic training is modest and ambiguous. The study also confirms that perception of peer behaviour has the strongest association with student engagement in questionable behaviours. Thus, academic integrity at the upper secondary level cannot be explained simply in terms of individual ethics or knowledge.https://doi.org/10.1007/s40979-022-00113-0Academic integrityQuestionable academic practicesUpper secondary studentsPlagiarismTraining |
| spellingShingle | Mikkel Willum Johansen Mads Paludan Goddiksen Mateja Centa Christine Clavien Eugenijus Gefenas Roman Globokar Linda Hogan Marcus Tang Merit Søren Saxmose Nielsen I. Anna S. Olsson Margarita Poškutė Una Quinn Júlio Borlido Santos Rita Santos Céline Schöpfer Vojko Strahovnik P. J. Wall Peter Sandøe Thomas Bøker Lund Lack of ethics or lack of knowledge? European upper secondary students’ doubts and misconceptions about integrity issues International Journal for Educational Integrity Academic integrity Questionable academic practices Upper secondary students Plagiarism Training |
| title | Lack of ethics or lack of knowledge? European upper secondary students’ doubts and misconceptions about integrity issues |
| title_full | Lack of ethics or lack of knowledge? European upper secondary students’ doubts and misconceptions about integrity issues |
| title_fullStr | Lack of ethics or lack of knowledge? European upper secondary students’ doubts and misconceptions about integrity issues |
| title_full_unstemmed | Lack of ethics or lack of knowledge? European upper secondary students’ doubts and misconceptions about integrity issues |
| title_short | Lack of ethics or lack of knowledge? European upper secondary students’ doubts and misconceptions about integrity issues |
| title_sort | lack of ethics or lack of knowledge european upper secondary students doubts and misconceptions about integrity issues |
| topic | Academic integrity Questionable academic practices Upper secondary students Plagiarism Training |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1007/s40979-022-00113-0 |
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