Brittney Thomson

EDIT 604
Module 201: Academic Dishonesty

In the article, The Nature, Causes and Practices of Academic Dishonesty/Cheating in

Higher Education: The Case of Hawassa University, Bachore (2016) researched how the teachers

and students perceived academic dishonesties, what the most frequent unethical academic

behaviors were, why students engaged in these activities, and what could be some strategies to

control the problems at Hawassa University.

To investigate, students and instructors were selected randomly. The study used a

questionnaire and an interview. The questionnaire was given to instructors and students at the

same time to collect data on the perceptions of academic dishonesties such as how often it

occurred, the types, causes, and practices of it. Then the interview was conducted to instructors

who would not fill out the questionnaire to collect data on the major reasons why students cheat

and gather teacher’s reactions as well as giving them an option to give suggestions to end the

problem.

The study found that cheating and academic dishonesties are a serious challenge and that

while they are aware about investigations, they are not fair and it is impartial. It found that

students are dishonest first on tests and exams, then written work is often plagiarized, and finally

that there is improper use of group work. It also found the reasons while students cheat are

because the test difficulty, time scarcity, irrelevant course material, pressure to get good grades,

and because they have no clarity on the policy.

I think these findings are interesting because the reasons why students cheat are jumping

off points for what to teach students. It is clear that students need to feel successful in class to

succeed on a test or assignment. The course materials need to have meaning and interest to the

students. They need to know up front about different policies. All of these are easy ways to start

off a class and begin to build a relationship with students and their peers.
 Brittney Thomson
EDIT 604
References

Bachore, M. M. (2016). The nature, causes and practices of academic dishonesty/cheating in

higher education: The case of Hawassa University. ​Journal of Education and Practice​,

7(19), 14–20. Retrieved from

http://search.ebscohost.com.login.library.coastal.edu:2048/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eri

c&AN=EJ1109249&site=ehost-live