On the Integrity of Online Testing for Introductory Statistics Courses: A Latent Variable Approach

There has been a remarkable growth in distance learning courses in higher education. Despite indications that distance learning courses are more vulnerable to cheating behavior than traditional courses, there has been little research studying whether online exams facilitate a relatively greater level of cheating. This article examines this issue by developing an approach using a latent variable to measure student cheating. This latent variable is linked to both known student mastery related variables and variables unrelated to student mastery. Grade scores from a proctored final exam and an unproctored final exam are used to test for increased cheating behavior in the unproctored exam Accessed 4,410 times on https://pareonline.net from April 11, 2015 to December 31, 2019. For downloads from January 1, 2020 forward, please click on the PlumX Metrics link to the right