Lecturer and student sensitivity to academic dishonesty intervention approaches in a Federal University in Nigeria

Abstract

This paper presents the report of a survey of staff and students' expression of preference for, and willingness to engage, in three approaches to curbing the menace of academic dishonesty in a Nigerian university. The study also explored the possible connections between gender and the respondents' responses. Eighty-seven staff and two hundred and thirty–two final year undergraduate students, randomly selected from five faculties in the university, constituted the study sample; and data was collected using a researcher-designed questionnaire patterned after Hinman's (2000) “Police, Virtues and Prevention” approaches to curbing academic dishonesty. The Chi-square statistic was employed in establishing the significance of observed differences between staff and students on the variables of preference and, engagement for each approach. Findings of the study showed that while the Police approach was the most preferred by staff, the students expressed preference mostly for the Virtues approach. However, only small proportions of staff and students expressed high willingness to engage in activities required to actualize the objectives of any of the approaches. The implications of the findings for integrated approach to curbing academic dishonesty and for instituting academic integrity policy in Nigerian universities are highlighted.

IFE PsychologIA Vol. 14(1) 2006: 158-182