EXPLORING ACADEMIC DISHONESTY PRACTICES AMONG SCIENCE EDUCATION UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

Abstract

The aim of this research was to explore e-dishonesty practices among science education undergraduates based on measurement models. The measuring tool was the Internet-triggered Academic Dishonesty Scale (IADS) comprised of ten items for the fraudulence construct and five items for the plagiarism construct as proposed by Akbulut et al. (2008), and another eight items as proposed by Karim, Zamzuri, and Nor (2009) for the construct of misuse in using information technologies by university students. A pilot sample of 125 valid responses and a test sample of 249 valid responses collected from university students in the Science Education program were subjects of factor analyses, non-parametric and invariance test methods. 16-item IADS scale was confirmed in a Romanian higher education context. A second-order factor (e-dishonesty), and three dimensions of first-order factors (plagiarism, fraudulence, and misuse in using information technologies (IT)) were validated. Plagiarism was the most important factor, followed by fraudulence and misuse in using IT. E-dishonesty practices dimensions not varied depending on the sociodemographic profile of undergraduates. The case study research provided a significant contribution to the understanding of ethical Internet behaviors and to generate an appropriate tool to measure the e-dishonesty practices among undergraduates learning science education subjects. Keywords: academic dishonesty, bi-factor models, fraudulence in using IT, human behavior, plagiarism in using IT, misuse in using IT, Science Education, university students.