Showing papers in "Journal of Academic Ethics in 2020"
TL;DR: Secondary trauma refers to the impact of indirect exposure to traumatic experiences; effects which can be ‘disruptive and painful’ and can ‘persist for months or years’ (McCann and Pearlman 1990).
Abstract: Secondary trauma (ST) refers to the impact of indirect exposure to traumatic experiences; effects which can be ‘disruptive and painful’ and can ‘persist for months or years’ (McCann and Pearlman 1990). The effects, as described by McCann, in relation to working directly with clients, are considered to be a usual response which results from witnessing a distressing traumatic event or from knowledge about such an event, particularly if the person is connected with the victim-survivor (Figley 1998). ST is one of a number of terms used somewhat interchangeably (including vicarious trauma, burnout, compassion fatigue) to convey ideas about the transference, or rippling-out effects, of trauma from the original incident and the original victim-survivor. Burnout is more usually related to the demands of work (including https://doi.org/10.1007/s10805-019-09348-y
42 citations
TL;DR: This article investigated faculty attitudes towards student violations of academic integrity in Canada using a qualitative review of 17 universities' academic integrity/dishonesty policies combined with a quantitative survey of faculty members' attitudes and behaviours around academic integrity and dishonesty.
Abstract: This study investigated faculty attitudes towards student violations of academic integrity in Canada using a qualitative review of 17 universities’ academic integrity/dishonesty policies combined with a quantitative survey of faculty members’ (N = 412) attitudes and behaviours around academic integrity and dishonesty. Results showed that 53.1% of survey respondents see academic dishonesty as a worsening problem at their institutions. Generally, they believe their respective institutional policies are sound in principle but fail in application. Two of the major factors identified by faculty as contributing to academic dishonesty are administrative. Many faculty members feel unsupported by their administration and are reluctant to formally report academic dishonesty due to the excessive burdens of dealing with paperwork and providing proof. Faculty members also cite unprepared students and international students who struggle with language issues and the Canadian academic context as major contributors to academic dishonesty. This study concludes with recommendations for educators and recommendations for future research.
36 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined how positive and negative emotionality relates to students' positive attitudes, negative attitudes, and subjective norms concerning plagiarism and found that negative and positive emotionality predicted 8.9% and 10% of the variance in positive plagiarism attitudes, respectively, while gender was unable to predict subjective norms relating to plagiarism.
Abstract: Higher education students experience high rates of negative emotions such as stress, anxiety, and depression. Although emotions are known to influence attitudes per se, previous research has not examined how emotionality may relate to attitudes toward plagiarism. This study sought to examine how positive and negative emotionality relates to students’ positive attitudes, negative attitudes, and subjective norms concerning plagiarism. University students (N = 685) completed the Attitudes Toward Plagiarism questionnaire and measures of anxiety, stress, depression, and negative and positive affect. Extending on previous research, it was found that a lack of positive affect and negative emotionality, specifically stress, were significant predictors of attitudes toward plagiarism. Emotionality predicted 8.9% and 10% of the variance in positive plagiarism attitudes and subjective norms, respectively. Interestingly, gender was unable to predict subjective norms relating to plagiarism. Support for negative and positive emotionality predicting attitudes toward plagiarism challenges the assumption that emotions do not predict attitudes within the plagiarism context. These findings are practically relevant, as they highlight the necessity of implementing interventions directly targeting mental health within the higher education setting.
30 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined how the self-reported cheating behaviors of students from a single large institution serving primarily adult students in online courses differ from those previously reported in large-scale studies of academic integrity among traditional-age college students.
Abstract: This study examines how the self-reported cheating behaviors of students from a single large institution serving primarily adult students in online courses differ from those previously reported in large-scale studies of academic integrity among traditional-age college students. Specifically, the research presented here demonstrates that students at a large online university are no more likely to engage in most forms of cheating than the traditional-age students in residential institutions studied by Donald McCabe in his seminal research on academic integrity. Relatedly, our study finds that students’ age decreases the likelihood of engaging in cheating behaviors. Moreover, traditional-age undergraduates in our study were no more likely to engage in cheating behaviors than the undergraduate students McCabe surveyed. Our study offers a unique contribution to the extant literature on academic integrity, as we believe this is the largest survey of student attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors from a single institution. The research presented here confounds the common (mis)perception that cheating is more prevalent and easier to accomplish in online learning and assessment.
26 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a study aimed to investigate academic dishonesty among college students in Indonesia, as well as explore various aspects of morality (i.e., moral integrity, moral disengagement, and moral foundations) that may affect academic dishonestness.
Abstract: The present study aimed to investigate academic dishonesty among college students in Indonesia, as well as exploring various aspects of morality (i.e., moral integrity, moral disengagement, and moral foundations) that may affect academic dishonesty. This study drew upon data obtained from an online survey of 574 students from diploma, undergraduate, and postgraduate levels of study in Indonesia (Male = 175, Female = 399). The data revealed a high prevalence of academic dishonesty in Indonesian college students and indicated that the level of academic dishonesty is affected by gender, college origin, and study level. Regressions confirmed that higher academic dishonesty is associated with lower moral integrity and higher level of moral disengagement, as expected, but not with moral foundations. We also present detailed examinations on the three forms of academic dishonesty (i.e., cheating, unauthorized collaboration, and plagiarism) and discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.
25 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors used a case study approach to capture a time-series data from three years of a university campus's efforts to raise awareness by celebrating the International Centre for Academic Integrity (ICAI)‘s International Day of Action Against Contract Cheating.
Abstract: Contract cheating is a growing menace that most academic institutions are grappling with globally. With governments now taking steps to help combat the industry and ban such services, it is also important to encourage students to stay away from such services through proactive strategies to raise awareness so that students stop using such services. This paper uses a case study approach to capture a time-series data from three years of a university campus’s efforts to raise awareness by celebrating the International Centre for Academic Integrity (ICAI)‘s International Day of Action Against Contract Cheating. This is in order to explore if such campaigns can be used as tools to increase student understanding of contract cheating as an academic misconduct issue and what roles students can play in raising awareness among other students on contract cheating. Proposing to look at contract cheating as a social issue, the paper positions the misconduct as such and explores how awareness campaigns can help address contract cheating. Over the three years, results show steep increase in awareness of contract cheating, a type of academic misconduct, and that students themselves have a positive influence on other students when raising awareness. An interesting finding of the study is that graduated students have had an impact by showing responsibility to younger students and by actively denouncing contract cheating companies and their approaches on social media; thus providing solid evidence that awareness campaigns can help increase awareness which is the first step towards building a culture of integrity in any campus.
18 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a survey of 1390 university students from five public Moldovan universities completed a survey reporting their experiences and beliefs with respect to 22 types of academic misconduct, and an interpretable five-factor solution to the frequencies of these behaviors accounted for more than half of the total variance.
Abstract: A total of 1390 university students from five public Moldovan universities completed a survey reporting their experiences and beliefs with respect to 22 types of academic misconduct. An interpretable five-factor solution to the frequencies of these behaviors accounted for more than half of the total variance. The two most reliable predictors were 1) how often students witnessed other students engage in these behaviors, and 2) perceived acceptability of the behaviors. Demographic predictors of these behaviors (gender, academic specialty, year in school, institution, grade average, and scholarship status) predicted minimal variance. Implications and limitations of the findings are discussed.
16 citations
TL;DR: An analysis of the discipline level reach by contract cheating services as seen through an analysis of Google search results from the United Kingdom is seen, including a call to action for academia to develop discipline specific solutions to contract cheating.
Abstract: Contract cheating services are marketing to students at discipline level, using increasingly sophisticated techniques. The discipline level reach of these services has not been widely considered in the academic integrity literature. Much of the academic understanding of contract cheating is not discipline specific, but the necessary solutions to this problem may need to vary by discipline. This paper reviews current knowledge about contract cheating services at the discipline level, including summarising four studies that rank the relative volume of contract cheating within different academic disciplines. The reviewed studies show high volumes of contract cheating transactions in the disciplines of Business and Computing. Examples of discipline level contract cheating research and service advertising are provided. The main contribution of the paper is an analysis of the discipline level reach by contract cheating services as seen through an analysis of Google search results from the United Kingdom. This analysis of 19 discipline groups uses measures of organic search engine results, paid results and competition. Three discipline groups are shown as currently being heavily exploited by essay mills; these are: (1) Architecture, Building and Planning, (2) Computer Science and (3) Law. In addition, the discipline group of Creative Arts and Design is shown to be at risk of future exploitation. The paper recommends that academics are made aware about continual change in the contract cheating industry including the involved marketing taking place at discipline level. The paper concludes with a call to action for academia to develop discipline specific solutions to contract cheating.
15 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss the experiences and opinions of researchers concerning the maintenance or breaking of confidentiality in the context of knowledge about illegal activities and harm, and examine the ways in which the researchers justified their decisions.
Abstract: Confidentiality represents a core principle of research ethics and forms a standard practice in social research. However, what should a researcher do if they learn about illegal activities or harm during the research process? Few systematic studies consider researchers’ attitudes and reactions in such situations. This paper analyzes this issue on the basis of in-depth interviews with Polish sociologists and anthropologists who conduct qualitative research with vulnerable participants. It discusses the experiences and opinions of researchers concerning the maintenance or breaking of confidentiality in the context of knowledge about illegal activities and harm. It also examines the ways in which the researchers justified their decisions. Most of my interviewees respected confidentiality in spite of knowledge of crime or harm, and referred to their epistemological perspectives regarding the role of the researcher, implicit consequentialist ethical reasoning and personal values. Where researchers did break confidentiality, this owed to their personal values and willingness to protect their informants, especially in cases of minor levels of harm as opposed to serious crime. Therefore, their experiences indicate the failure of both obligatory unconditional assurances of confidentiality and the requirement for researchers to assure confidentiality to the extent permitted by law. I argue that researchers do not need constrictive and potentially punitive rules about confidentiality, but rather sensitizing frameworks about how to contemplate and anticipate the many complexities and moral shadings of situations in the field.
14 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors used data collected via start-of-term questionnaires, a series of follow-up semi-structured interviews and a specially calibrated session on academic integrity to look into the students' ideas on cheating, school work, internet use, studying habits and understanding of academic integrity.
Abstract: Student plagiarism and cheating have been at the focus of scholarly investigations for over two decades now, the discussion being conducted on the backdrop of the question of whether traditional didactics is suitable for Google generation students who supposedly think and process information differently. Using data collected via start-of-term questionnaires, a series of follow-up semi-structured interviews and a specially calibrated session on academic integrity, the present study looks into the students’ ideas on cheating, school work, internet use, studying habits and understanding of academic integrity. The study aims to suggest (albeit tentatively) a holistic approach to teaching academic integrity in higher education taking into account the students’ perspective: an in-depth qualitative approach was used in the data analysis, evaluating students’ investment, engagement, motivation, learning habits, attitudes to cheating and plagiarism. The findings suggest a conflicted picture of the Bulgarian student: hardly taking the all-practical approach towards higher education, conflicted about the value of learning, this generation of students has little structure to their knowledge, they critically underuse ICT tools for learning and regard cheating as a commodity, unburdened by moral or ethical implications.
12 citations
TL;DR: Digital forensics techniques were used to investigate a known case of contract cheating where the contract author has notified the university and the student subsequently confirmed that they had contracted the work out.
Abstract: Contract cheating is a major problem in Higher Education because it is very difficult to detect using traditional plagiarism detection tools. Digital forensics techniques are already used in law to determine ownership of documents, and also in criminal cases, where it is not uncommon to hide information and images within an ordinary looking document using steganography techniques. These digital forensic techniques were used to investigate a known case of contract cheating where the contract author has notified the university and the student subsequently confirmed that they had contracted the work out. Microsoft Word documents use a format known as Office Open XML Format, and as such, it is possible to review the editing process of a document. A student submission known to have been contracted out was analysed using the revision identifiers within the document, and a tool was developed to review these identifiers. Using visualisation techniques it is possible to see a pattern of editing that is inconsistent with the pattern seen in an authentic document.
TL;DR: The authors investigated the use of text-matching software (TMS) to prevent plagiarism by students in a Canadian university that did not have an institutional license for TMS at the time of the study.
Abstract: This institutional self-study investigated the use of text-matching software (TMS) to prevent plagiarism by students in a Canadian university that did not have an institutional license for TMS at the time of the study. Assignments from a graduate-level engineering course were analyzed using iThenticate®. During the initial phase of the study, similarity scores from the first student assignments (N = 132) were collected to determine a baseline level of textual similarity. Students were then offered an educational intervention workshop on academic integrity. Another set of similarity scores from consenting participants’ second assignments (n = 106) were then collected, and a statistically significant assignment effect (p < 0.05) was found between the similarity scores of the two assignments. The results of this study indicate that TMS, when used in conjunction with educational interventions about academic integrity, can be useful to students and educators to prevent and identify academic misconduct. This study adds to the growing body of empirical research about academic integrity in Canadian higher education and, in particular, in engineering fields.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors revisited religiosity, gender, age, education, and experience as drivers of ethical behavior in accounting and found no significant evidence of a positive association between religiosity and accountants' judgments on earnings management.
Abstract: We revisit religiosity, gender, age, ethics education and experience as drivers of ethicality, while expanding prior research from Anglo-Saxon and Asiatic/Euro-Asiatic countries to a Latin European country, Portugal. We apply the Merchant (1989) instrument of attitudes towards earnings management, in a sample of Portuguese accounting students and alumni. We find no significant evidence of a positive association between religiosity and accountants’ judgments on earnings management. However, gender, age, education (and accounting ethics education) and experience are significant predictors of accountants’ judgments. The results are unchanged when we control for the intent (selfish benefit) of earnings management. Females, older individuals and alumni judge accounting earnings management more harshly than males, younger individuals, and students (who have not yet completed an accounting ethics course). A higher level of accounting work experience induces accountants to judge accounting earnings management as a less ethically questionable practice. This finding is theoretically relevant because it underscores the necessity of taking people’s constraints in the workplace into consideration when studying ethical behavior in business contexts. The results are also practically relevant, as they highlight the importance of a systematic ethics education throughout the accountant’s life.
TL;DR: Insight is advanced into the arguments deployed by fake journals in their attempt to convey specific indexicalities of identity and truthfulness by using Toulmin’s Model of Argumentation.
Abstract: In the academic community, predatory publishers are exploiting academic integrity and the open access publishing model. Academicians receive numerous spam e-mail messages inviting article submissions each day which deceive authors by promising fast review and publication. The content of these emails present arguments in a way to appear as legitimate and valid to grab the attention of authors. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to advance insights into the arguments deployed by fake journals in their attempt to convey specific indexicalities of identity and truthfulness. As a result of thematic analysis of 50 email messages from such journals, this research drew on two main themes-explicit and implicit arguments and their most frequent subcategories which were formal lexicon/grammar and fast peer- reviewed process. These arguments were, further, mapped on to Toulmin’s Model of Argumentation to find out more about the strength of the information used to support their claim. Utilizing Toulmin’s model, the findings highlighted the fact that there were instances of discursive deviations or “hidden rebuttals” that revealed the predatory journals’ ingenuity.
TL;DR: The cross-cultural academic integrity questionnaire version 3 (CCAIQ-3) as discussed by the authors has better credibility in terms of construct validity than its predecessor, and three domains are proposed: copying, cheating, and complying.
Abstract: Establishing a reliable and valid measure of academic integrity that can be used in higher education institutions across the world is a challenging and ambitious task. However, solving this issue will likely have major ramifications for understanding dishonest action. It also enables the development of a standardised measure that can be used to assess the efficacy of interventions aimed at enhancing academic integrity that can be administered across regional boundaries and diverse cultural groups. This study has used a combination of confirmatory factor analysis and item distribution inspection procedures to further validate the cross-cultural academic integrity questionnaire version 2 (CCAIQ-2). Primary participants in this study were from Saudi Arabia (n = 338), and secondary reference participants were from New Zealand (n = 366). The findings indicate that a revised 10-item questionnaire, the cross-cultural academic integrity questionnaire version 3 (CCAIQ-3), has better credibility in terms of construct validity than its predecessor. Three CCAIQ-3 domains are proposed: copying, cheating, and complying. This research will inevitably create further academic and international debate; however this measure is likely to be useful in terms of creating a research protocol for evaluating and measuring cross-cultural issues and interventions aimed at promoting academic integrity.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors proposed a framework that would help to resolve authorship disputes over multi-author paper publication and proposed a qualitative methodology that subsumes descriptive, evaluative, and interpretative approaches to answer these questions.
Abstract: Responsible conduct of research and ethical publishing practices are debatable issues in the higher education literature. The literature suggests that ‘authorship disputes’ are associated with multi-author paper publication and linked to ethical publishing practices. A few research studies argue authorship matters of a multi-author paper publication, but do not explain how to arrange author list meaningfully in a multi-author paper. How is a principal author of a multi-author paper to be decided? The literature also does not clarify whether language editor(s) could claim authorship for a research paper publication? The paper adopts qualitative methodology that subsumes descriptive, evaluative, and interpretative approaches to answer these questions. While answering these questions, the paper critically examines ‘authorship disputes’ and ‘types of authorship’ relating to research paper publication practices. At the end, the paper proposes a framework that would help to resolve authorship disputes over multi-author paper publication.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the role of triarchic psychopathic traits in cheating over the Honesty-Humility dimension, cheating attitudes over personality, and mediating role of cheating attitudes in the relationship between different psychopathic components and academic cheating.
Abstract: Recent research has suggested that both the Honesty-Humility dimension, psychopathic traits and cheating attitudes are important predictors of academic dishonesty. The present study examined: a) the incremental role of triarchic psychopathic traits in academic cheating over the Honesty-Humility dimension; b) the incremental role of cheating attitudes over personality; c) the mediating role of cheating attitudes in the relationship between different psychopathic components and academic cheating. Two-hundred-and-ninty-seven students (59% female, 23 years on average) completed several questionnaires: the Triarchic Psychopathy Measure (TriPM), The HEXACO-PI-R Honesty-Humility scale, Attitudes Toward Cheating Scale, and the Academic Cheating Behaviours Scale. As expected, triarchic psychopathy added incremental variance in explaining academic cheating, after controlling for Honesty-Humility. Cheating attitudes explained additional 24% after controlling for personality traits. Meanness lead to more lenient attitudes toward cheating, which lead to more academic cheating behaviours. On the other hand, the effects of boldness and disinhibition were not mediated by attitudes towards cheating. Overall, the results suggest that the psychopathic traits display the effects on the academic cheating via several different mechanisms. The findings have both important theoretical and practical implications.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyzed the current practices of defining and dealing with plagiarism in published Master's theses and found that the adherence of higher education institutions to the national ethical guidelines is not optimal and leads to inconsistent responses to notifications of suspected plagiarism.
Abstract: All higher education institutions in Finland are committed to following the guidelines of good scientific practice and procedures to handle allegations of misconduct compiled by the Finnish Advisory Board on Research Integrity. However, there is no research available in what way institutions follow these guidelines. This article analyses the current practices of defining and dealing with plagiarism in published Master’s theses. The data consist of 29 written notifications of suspected plagiarism in Master’s theses that were sent to the rectors of universities and decisions on these 29 cases. Inductive content analysis was used to classify the decisions according to definitions of plagiarism, processes to deal with suspicions and sanctions for plagiarism. Due to inconsistency and perplexity in some of the decisions, classifications are overlapping. The main actor in the process is the rector of the higher education institution who bases the decision on the views of preliminary enquirer. Preliminary inquiry has replaced investigation proper and this allows the procedures to remain internal and local. There is no consensus of the definition of plagiarism, and the sanctions for plagiarism vary from nothing to an attempt to revoke a Master’s degree. The adherence of the higher education institutions to the national ethical guidelines is not optimal and leads to inconsistent responses to notifications of suspected plagiarism.
TL;DR: In this paper, a list of plagiarised songs was produced by using YouTube® searches for "comparative videos" made by the vigilant music lovers about accused/detected music plagiarism.
Abstract: Music plagiarism is defined as using tune, or melody that would closely imitate with another author’s music without proper attributions. It may occur either by stealing a musical idea (a melody or motif) or sampling (a portion of one sound, or tune is copied into a different song). Unlike the traditional music, the Indian cinematic music is extremely popular amongst the public. Since the expectations of the public for songs that are enjoyable are high, many music directors are seeking elsewhere to “borrow” tunes. Whilst a vast majority of Indian cinemagoers may not have noticed these plagiarised tunes, some journalists and vigilant music lovers have noticed these activities. This study has taken the initiative to investigate the extent of plagiaristic activities within one Indian cinematic music industry. A list of plagiarised songs was produced by using YouTube® searches for “comparative videos” made by the vigilant music lovers about accused/detected music plagiarism. Some of these individuals were also interviewed to understand their views on this. During the investigation, it was possible to identify a vast number of plagiarised tunes, snippets, or even the full songs. In fact, some of these examples’ dates to 1954, during the era when no one would have noticed plagiarism. The paper would highlight the similarities of these music files. It will also show some examples of the excuses/denial given by the composers and would try to highlight the attitudes of general public towards these types of activities.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors used an experimental design to examine perspectives of ethical behavior among faculty, staff, and students, and found that all groups hesitated to rate advisors as highly ethical or unethical, even when behavior was seen as less ethical, students and faculty/staff perceived limited opportunity for students to do something about that behavior, such as change advisors.
Abstract: Although the advising literature has emphasized the importance of good academic advising, there has been little emphasis on ethical issues. NACADA: The Global Community for Academic Advising provides Core Values to guide ethical behavior. This study used an experimental design to examine perspectives of ethical behavior among faculty, staff, and students. All groups could differentiate between ethical and unethical extremes, but students had difficulty differentiating between ethical and neutral behavior. All groups hesitated to rate advisors as highly ethical or unethical. Even when behavior was seen as less ethical, students and faculty/staff perceived limited opportunity for students to do something about that behavior, such as change advisors. Suggestions are offered to increase the likelihood of more ethical behavior within advisement.
TL;DR: In this paper, the influence of different corrupt behaviours and perceived corruption among peers on the corrupt intention of university students was examined and 120 undergraduate students participated in a quasi-experimental design divided in three treatments (control, low-corruption acceptance, high corruption acceptance) to rate their willingness to engage in favoritism and embezzlement behaviours.
Abstract: Corruption in higher education has raised concern among governments, citizens, and the education community worldwide. However, few papers have sought to explore the students’ willingness to engage in corrupt practices at the university level. The present study aimed to examine the influence of different corrupt behaviours and perceived corruption among peers on the corrupt intention of university students. 120 undergraduate students participated in a quasi-experimental design divided in 3 treatments (control, low-corruption acceptance, high-corruption acceptance) to rate their willingness to engage in favouritism and embezzlement behaviours. Results pointed out that students were more prone to committing a non-monetary behaviour favouritism– than a monetary behaviour –embezzlement–. Furthermore, there were not significant differences between the groups of control and high-corruption acceptance; while only the group of low-corruption acceptance showed significant lower rates when compared to the control and the high-corruption acceptance’s group. Practical recommendations need to address students’ perceptions of different corrupt practices, focusing on designing ethical training programmes aimed to raise awareness on the negative consequences of non-monetary activities. Future research directions could generate empirical support to prove if students are able to recognize the underlying mechanisms of subtle corrupt practices.
TL;DR: In this paper, a study was conducted to map the perceptions and attitudes about research misconduct in a sample of young researchers attending a one-week intensive course on methodology, ethics and integrity in biomedical research, held at the University of Insubria (Italy).
Abstract: Research misconduct (RM) is an alarming concern worldwide, and especially in Italy, where there is no formal training of young researchers in responsible research practices. The main aim of this study was to map the perceptions and attitudes about RM in a sample of young researchers attending a one-week intensive course on methodology, ethics and integrity in biomedical research, held at the University of Insubria (Italy). To this end, we administered the Scientific Misconduct Questionnaire (SMQ-R) to all attendees at the beginning of the course. Thereafter, SMQ-R was re-administered at the end, to assess the impact of the course on the responsiveness of study participants, which is intended as the frequency of responses other than “don’t know”. Results show that respondents rate as high their own understanding about rules and procedures related to scientific misconduct (49.2% of respondents), as well as the effectiveness of their institution’s measures for reducing it (40%). Most of them (44.6%) perceive as low the chances of getting caught for RM. Some respondents believe that cases of misconduct occur in their workplace (20%–46.2%) and that the integrity of a research is not solely the responsibility of the principal investigator (73.8%). Among the main factors contributing to research misconduct, the need for publications, unclear definition of what constitutes misconduct and pressure for external funding do stand out. Respondents are concerned about the amount of misconduct and express a pressing need for training on research ethics. Remarkably, the responsiveness of participants tends to increase with course attendance. This finding may be useful to support education programmes devoted to research methodology, ethics and integrity among young researchers.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present philosophical-ethical arguments concerning the extent to which NCAA intercollegiate (“American” or U.S.) football is a public good and some implausible implications of the claim that it constitutes a public goods and ought to be publicly subsidized as part of a component of higher education generally as is currently the case.
Abstract: This article presents philosophical-ethical arguments concerning the extent to which NCAA inter-collegiate (“American” or U.S.) football is a public good and some implausible implications of the claim that it constitutes a public good and ought to be publicly subsidized as part of a component of U.S. higher education generally as is currently the case. Underlying this main argument is one concerning who or what should have the responsibility for subsidizing the necessary costs of the sport, including its associated healthcare and medical costs.
TL;DR: Most nursing research in developing countries are not currently meeting the social benefit principle of the ethical conduct of scientific research, and recommendations are provided to promote the utilization of Nursing research in evidence-based practice, nursing education, and health policy.
Abstract: Research on human subjects is ethically justified when its anticipated results would ultimately benefit the society or public and not only the individuals participating in this research. Besides contributing to scientific knowledge, social benefits of scientific research may extend to all aspects of the public’s life including health, education, and security. In this paper, we aimed to discuss the social benefits principle as an ethical requirement for the conduct of scientific research in general and nursing research in particular. We critically examined the current situation of nursing research in developing countries including its adherence to the social benefits principle and provided exemplars of both hindered and successful utilization of nursing research evidence in developing countries. We concluded that the utilization of nursing research evidence in clinical practice, education, and policy making is almost nonexistent and faces many challenges in most developing countries. Thus, most nursing research in developing countries are not currently meeting the social benefit principle of the ethical conduct of scientific research. We provided recommendations to promote the utilization of nursing research in evidence-based practice, nursing education, and health policy.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the strategies used by peer facilitators in improving students' academic performance in a previously disadvantaged university in South Africa, and assessed whether they are succeeding in this quest.
Abstract: The aim of this paper is to examine the strategies used by peer facilitators in improving students’ academic performance in a previously disadvantaged university in South Africa. It also assesses whether peer facilitators are succeeding in this quest. This paper stems from a larger study on the implementation of peer academic support programmes, which used the qualitative research approach and a sample of 31 participants made up of peer facilitators, students and programme coordinators. The study made use of in-depth interviews and focus group discussions as well as documentary analyses as methods of data collection. Data was analysed thematically using the main and sub themes that emerged from the data coding. The results indicate that peer facilitators use different strategies to engage students in an interactive manner in order to improve their academic performance. Some of these strategies include ethically acceptable discussions, questioning, and answering and redirecting questioning. The findings further show that these strategies are succeeding in improving students’ academic performance to an extent. This is through improved pass rates and skill proficiency in various areas of academic learning. However, the participants reported that the strategies are not satisfactorily yielding the desired results because of certain impediments, which include the behaviour of some facilitators, poor relations between the Teaching and Learning Centre (TLC) and various departments, and less individual attention paid to students by the peer facilitators, some of which raise ethical concerns. Consequently, these hinder satisfactory achievement of students’ academic overall performance at the university. Among other recommendations, the Teaching and Learning Centre should forge better relations with departments to attract needy students for academic support, and there is need to ensure better preparation of peer facilitators with necessary acumen to guide students effectively.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors rely on two international projects to argue for the existence of a "centrarchy" in the fields of education and technology (and beyond), where power rests with the Centre.
Abstract: This article relies on two international projects to argue for the existence of a ‘centrarchy’ in the fields of education and technology (and beyond). Centrarchy denotes a power structure in which power rests with ‘the Centre’. The Centre signifies well-respected departments, top-tiered journals, the best editors, critical reviewers and leading authors; the Periphery denotes anyone else. The Centre has assigned itself the mission of guiding the Periphery out of its underdevelopment. It has served as a proxy for quality scholarship and believes that Periphery’s societies require a saviour (the Centre). It has ignored the knowledge that has (and could have) been produced by the Periphery’s researchers. Its ways of researching the world have been internalised and taken for granted by the Periphery’s academics, who have come to see these ways as the natural order and common sense. It has seen the Periphery’s societies as outliers appropriate merely for local case studies, whereas its case studies transcend locality and have universal value. The Centre–Periphery ‘wall’ is unbreachable because of empirically uninspected factors, which are unearthed here. This article, furthermore, shows some academics to be on ‘the periphery of the Periphery’.
TL;DR: This research focuses on testing the existent text-matching software systems on a set of documents prepared in the Latvian language on the plagiarism coverage using the prepared document corpus.
Abstract: There are many internationally developed text-matching software systems that help successfully identify potentially plagiarized content in English texts using both their internal databases and web resources. However, many other languages are not so widely spread but they are used daily to communicate, conduct research and acquire education. Each language has its peculiarities, so, in the context of finding content similarities, it is necessary to determine what systems are more suitable for a document set written in a specific language. The research focuses on testing the existent text-matching software systems on a set of documents prepared in the Latvian language. The corpus includes documents containing verbatim plagiarism, paraphrasing, translation plagiarism and original text to test both false positive and false negative cases. In total, 16 different text-matching software systems are compared on the plagiarism coverage using the prepared document corpus. The research presented is a part of an international initiative “Testing of Support Tools for Plagiarism Detection (TeSToP)” established under the European Network for Academic Integrity.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a review of ethics information available online from Franciscan Colleges and Universities and conclude that the need for more intentional inclusion of ethics in university and program mission statements as well as specific courses for the undergraduate psychology major is clear.
Abstract: Ethics education is an important goal in higher education overall. It is not clear how well psychology programs are meeting this goal. The American Psychology Association’s Guidelines for the Undergraduate Psychology Major (APA 2013) were created to support high-quality education in psychology. The Guidelines focus on five goals including Ethical and Social Responsibility in a Diverse World. This study is a review of ethics information available online from Franciscan Colleges and Universities. We accessed 24 Franciscan institutions and reviewed the available information provided by 22 of them. We asked several questions: Whether the psychology department provided a mission statement and was ethics addressed in it? What courses focused on ethics or mentioned ethics in their description? Were there other institutional ethics courses required for psychology majors? Was ethics mentioned in the institution mission? The results of this study indicate a need for more intentional inclusion of ethics in university and program mission statements as well as specific courses for the undergraduate psychology major.