Student-Teacher Rapport Moderates the Relationship between Course Difficulty and Academic Dishonesty
Project Advisor(s) (Students Only)
Dr. Daniel Corts
Presentation Type (All Applicants)
Poster Presentation
Disciplines (All Applicants)
Educational Psychology
Description, Abstract, or Artist's Statement
Surveys indicate around 75% of undergraduates intentionally cheat on schoolwork and, not surprisingly, there are normative beliefs among students that this figure is correlated with course difficulty (Rettinger, Jordan, & Peschiera, 2004; Rettinger & Kramer, 2009; Witherspoon, Maldonado, & Lacey, 2010). We asked whether student-teacher rapport might moderate those beliefs, hypothesizing that rapport with a teacher reduces the estimated likelihood of cheating.
Researchers distributed an online survey to traditional-aged college students at a selective liberal arts college receiving 95 completed forms. Participants indicated whether they had engaged in each of 14 academically dishonest behaviors (Witherspoon, Maldando, & Lacy, 2010), which represented classroom-based (e.g. copying test answers) or out-of-class (e.g. plagiarism) behaviors. Independent variables were assessed by the Difficulty Appropriateness Inventory (Heckert et al, 2006) and a modified measure of student-teacher rapport and teacher immediacy (Gorham, 1988; Gorham & Christophel, 1990).
Hierarchical regression showed a significant association between difficulty and out-of-class cheating (beta= 4.02) that was moderated by rapport (beta = -4.29) such that strong faculty-student relationships reduced the tendency to cheat, F(3, 27)=5.932, p< .003, adjusted Rsq = .330. There was a similar moderating effect of rapport on difficulty (beta = -4.834) when in-class cheating was the dependent variable F(3, 27) = 4.79, p = .008, adjusted Rsq = .275.
In conclusion, these data support previous research connecting difficulty to increased academic dishonesty. In addition, the data provide new evidence that a positive experience with a teacher may prevent some of that cheating from occurring.
Augustana Digital Commons Citation
Strell, Phoebe; Petruchuis, Payton; Bosslet, Nora; and Bjork, Allison. "Student-Teacher Rapport Moderates the Relationship between Course Difficulty and Academic Dishonesty" (2017). Celebration of Learning.
https://digitalcommons.augustana.edu/celebrationoflearning/2017/posters/5
Student-Teacher Rapport Moderates the Relationship between Course Difficulty and Academic Dishonesty
Surveys indicate around 75% of undergraduates intentionally cheat on schoolwork and, not surprisingly, there are normative beliefs among students that this figure is correlated with course difficulty (Rettinger, Jordan, & Peschiera, 2004; Rettinger & Kramer, 2009; Witherspoon, Maldonado, & Lacey, 2010). We asked whether student-teacher rapport might moderate those beliefs, hypothesizing that rapport with a teacher reduces the estimated likelihood of cheating.
Researchers distributed an online survey to traditional-aged college students at a selective liberal arts college receiving 95 completed forms. Participants indicated whether they had engaged in each of 14 academically dishonest behaviors (Witherspoon, Maldando, & Lacy, 2010), which represented classroom-based (e.g. copying test answers) or out-of-class (e.g. plagiarism) behaviors. Independent variables were assessed by the Difficulty Appropriateness Inventory (Heckert et al, 2006) and a modified measure of student-teacher rapport and teacher immediacy (Gorham, 1988; Gorham & Christophel, 1990).
Hierarchical regression showed a significant association between difficulty and out-of-class cheating (beta= 4.02) that was moderated by rapport (beta = -4.29) such that strong faculty-student relationships reduced the tendency to cheat, F(3, 27)=5.932, p< .003, adjusted Rsq = .330. There was a similar moderating effect of rapport on difficulty (beta = -4.834) when in-class cheating was the dependent variable F(3, 27) = 4.79, p = .008, adjusted Rsq = .275.
In conclusion, these data support previous research connecting difficulty to increased academic dishonesty. In addition, the data provide new evidence that a positive experience with a teacher may prevent some of that cheating from occurring.