Abstract:

Background. There are many factors affecting the student success. Cheating is one of the variables that prevent the measurement of success and leads to unreliable judgments about student achievement. Cheating remains on the agenda at various levels of schooling. The fear of failure, parental pressure, painstaking to peers, laziness, considering the evaluation criteria as unfair and above all the fact that examinations matter significantly for ones future career in Turkey can be considered as the factors which prompt students to cheat (Selçuk, 1995; Külahçı, 1996; Yeşilyaprak ve Öztürk, 1997; Dirik, 1997; Yıldırım, 1998; Oksal ve Bilgin, 1999; Tan, 2001; Akdağ ve Güneş, 2002; Semerci ve Sağlam, 2005; Çetin, 2007; Seven ve Engin, 2008; Tayfun ve Yazıcıoğlu, 2008; Özgüngör, 2008). Purpose. The aim of this study is to determine the views of the students of high school and university about the reasons that orient them to cheat, their conception about what cheating is and the kinds of cheating they generally use. Methodology. Subjects were 736 students from 10 high schools in Kayseri province and 132 post-graduate students enrolled in teacher training programs at Erciyes University. An open ended questionnaire form with 15 items were developed to assess students cheating behaviors and conceptions Data on students' description of their own personality were collected by using “five-factor model of personality” developed by Digman and Inouye (1986). Data were tabulated and analyzed by using frequencies and percentages, and Chi-square. Findings. There are two forms of cheating that comes into prominence considering the conceptions of students about cheating: “To copy exactly the same as what another student writes during an exam” and “to copy from books or other written/printed material which are forbidden in the exam”. The high school students and the teacher candidates who are taking teacher training courses ultimately (%81) consider themselves as considerate, sympathetic, trustworthy and self-disciplined. Nearly half of the students exhibit the behaviors of helping others to cheat, to have someone do the homework he/she is supposed to do, and cheat from someone informed in advance. The forms of cheating they apply don't vary according to the features of descriptions they make about themselves. There is a great deal of difference between the frequencies of cheating that the high school students apply and teacher candidates apply. As the grade level student enrolled in increases the frequency to reach the exam questions increases. Results and implications. The findings of the study indicates that the most frequently used cheating methods in turn are to have someone do the activity which they are supposed to do, assist the others to cheat and to cheat from others. There has been no significant difference between the cheating methods and the way they describe themselves. As the state of student's education progresses, the frequency of cheating decreases and the method of cheating changes. The development of the state of education facilitates to reach the answers of the exam questions directly. Teachers' carefulness about choosing the subjects of the projects which will be done by the students and discussing about the projects in the class will decrease the chance of student's having others do the given activities. Therefore in the case of diversification and change of the methods of measurement and extending the measurement to the education process, cheating may decrease to a certain extent.

Keywords: