Abstract
This study investigated students’ (n = 819) perceptions following a prepared, common presentation regarding academic integrity provided by their residence dons. This peer instruction study utilized both quantitative and qualitative analyses of survey data within a pre-test post-test design. Overall, students reported gains in knowledge, as well as confidence in their knowledge of academic integrity. Notably, students reported increases in their personal value for academic integrity after participating in the presentations. Overall, the quality and content of the presentations were judged positively, and participants’ ratings of the presentation were predictive of increases in personal value of academic integrity, as well as self-reported knowledge and confidence gains. Qualitative analyses supported that the key ideas in the presentation served as the focal material for discussion, but also introduced specific topics that students wanted to explore in greater depth.
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Notes
Before conducting regression analyses, correlations were conducted between the confidence and knowledge measures prior to the presentation and then after the presentation. In both cases the correlations were very high (r (806) = .79 and r (804) = .74 before and after the presentation respectively). Such high correlations suggest that these measures were consistently assessing the same underlying construct. These two scales were combined to form an aggregated confidence and knowledge scale prior to the presentation and an aggregated confidence and knowledge scale after the presentation. Cronbach’s test of reliability suggest that the scales were highly reliable (α = .92 prior to presentation and .94 after the presentation. All analyses for students employed the aggregated measures.
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Acknowledgement
The researchers would like to acknowledge the contributions of Joshua Manuel and Olivia Saccucci regarding the presentations used in this research and the Residence Life Area Coordinators, especially Josh Duarte, for their support and assistance with data collection. Also, we thank Dr. Deborah McClatchy, VP: Academic, for her commitment to this research and financial support.
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Zivcakova, L., Wood, E., Forsyth, G. et al. Investigating Perceptions of Students to a Peer-Based Academic Integrity Presentation Provided by Residence Dons. J Acad Ethics 12, 89–99 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10805-014-9206-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10805-014-9206-2