Comparison of Honor Code and Non-Honor Code Classrooms at a Non-Honor Code University

Abstract

The present paper examines the effects of a classroom honor code at a non-honor code institution by comparing a class with an honor code (HC) to a non-honor code (NHC) class. The HC class had a peer-reporting requirement and unproctored quizzes and exams. The NHC class used traditional methods of enforcing academic honesty. Surveys were distributed to the students in both classes asking for self-reports of cheating and beliefs about the instructors' attitudes toward academic dishonesty. Despite the increased ease and temptation of engaging in academic dishonesty in the HC classroom, results showed that there was no difference in number of students who reported cheating or in number of students who witnessed cheating in the two classes. A greater proportion of students in the HC classroom than in the NHC classroom perceived the instructor to be trusting and respecting of students, and to hold academic integrity as more important than other instructors. These results suggest a classroom honor code may be a viable mechanism for promoting academic integrity through improvement of the student-instructor relationship. ______________________________________________________________________________ cademic dishonesty is a perennial concern on college campuses. Whitley (1998) estimated, based on a meta-analysis of many studies, that 70.4% of college students engage in acts of academic dishonesty. Rettinger, Jordan, and Peschiera (2004) reported that 83% of a sample of students from a small liberal arts college admitted to cheating at one point in their college career. Common ways in which academic dishonesty occurs include plagiarism and cheating on exams by copying, helping someone, or using unauthorized crib notes (McCabe, Trevino, & Butterfield, 2001a). Increased availability of information on the internet has made plagiarism more prevalent and harder to detect (Scanlon, 2003). Although some faculty and institutions react by increasing proctoring and other similar sorts of "policing" strategies, other institutions have implemented a different approach, namely the use of an honor code (Whitley and Keith-Spiegel, 2001).