Plagiarism and Cheating: A Mixed Methods Study of Student Academic Dishonesty

This thesis was undertaken to fulfil the requirements of a Master's degree in Social Science Research and as such its main intention is to develop and demonstrate skill and competency by conducting a mixed methods research study. To demonstrate this I conducted an investigation into the occurrence of student academic dishonesty at the University of Waikato using both quantitative and qualitative methods. The aim of the research was to compare my findings with the data reported by the University's Student Discipline Committee and the findings from a large North American study by Professor Donald McCabe. The findings show similarities to the Student Discipline Committee Annual Reports in that plagiarism was the most common behaviour reported by all participants. However, the levels reported of minor plagiarism are higher than that reported by the Committee and match the levels reported in international research. When comparing my findings with McCabe's the overall results were very similar despite the difference in the populations studied. It is hoped that the findings of this research can be used to understand the issues around academic dishonesty and to develop ways of supporting both students and staff in order to reduce its occurrence