Perceptual Comparison of Source-Code Plagiarism within Students from UK, China, and South Cyprus Higher Education Institutions

Abstract

Perspectives of students on what constitutes source-code plagiarism may differ based on their educational background. Surveys have been conducted with home students undertaking computing and joint computing subject degrees at higher education institutions throughout the UK, China, and South Cyprus, and a total of 984 responses have been statistically analysed to determine the common areas of understanding and misunderstanding among students on various topics related to source-code plagiarism. The study identifies those topics which are well understood, and those topics which are not properly understood across the different groups of students, and is the first study which specifically discusses Cypriot student perceptions on source-code plagiarism. This study provides useful information to educators (teaching home and international students) who wish to better inform their students on the issues of plagiarism and source-code plagiarism. Finally, the survey results revealed that although students who were informed about plagiarism better understood what actions constitute plagiarism, some topics were still unclear among students regardless of the students’ educational background and whether they had been previously informed about plagiarism.