Comparing Veterinary Student and Faculty Perceptions of Academic Misconduct

Abstract

A study was conducted to assess veterinary students’ and faculty perceptions of a variety of academic and classroom behaviors, and the degree to which these are acceptable or not. Two instruments were developed for this purpose: 1) The Exams and Assignments Scale (EAS), consisted of 23 items measuring the extent to which a variety of examination and assignment-related actions and behaviors constituted misconduct, and 2) The Classroom Behavior Scale (CBS), consisted of 8 items and measured the extent to which a variety of classroom behaviors were acceptable professional behaviors. Student responses were pooled for analysis and compared to faculty perceptions. This comparison resulted in statistically significant differences on 11 of the 23 EAS indicators. In all cases, faculty felt the described actions were more severe offenses than students with most of these discrepancies centering on situations regarding examinations and clinical skills. Both groups felt that offenses pertaining to cheating in exam settings were the most severe infractions, and the least severe issues pertained to laboratories/assignments and other out of class behaviors. On the CBS scale, there were statistically significant differences on 3 of the 8 measures, with faculty reporting the behaviors as less acceptable. The most concerning behaviors involved actions that could potentially impact people other than the offender, while the most acceptable behaviors seemed to only impact the person committing them.