A statistical test for cheating is developed. The case of a single examinee who has taken parallel forms of the same selection test on three occasions, obtaining scores x, y, z, is used to illustrate the development. It is assumed that each score is normally distributed with the same known variance, that is, the variance of the errors of…

A number of statistical procedures that were developed in 1983 at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Rutgers Medical School to verify the suspicion that a student cheated during an examination are described. (MLW)

A statistical test for detecting answer copying on multiple-choice items is presented. The test is based on the exact null distribution of the number of random matches between two test takers under the assumption that the response process follows a known response model. The null distribution can easily be generalized to the family of distributions…

The production and operations management class offered at California State University, Fresno underwent a transformation from being a four-unit, face-to-face course to a hybrid course. This hybrid course, which is required for all students in the Craig School of Business, includes two units of face-to-face instruction each week, with some coverage…

Describes a statistical procedure that detects cheating by comparing answers for pairs of students using those items on which both made errors. If the number of identical wrong answers is greater than the number expected by chance, cheating is likely. Suggests using procedure to discourage cheating. (KO)

There is a long line of studies on academic cheating. This literature has established a litany of different individual and contextual factors that seem to inspire student conformity of the official rules of test taking. This study draws on this literature by using fourteen independent variables to explain the cheating habits of students in a…

Two new indices to detect answer copying on a multiple-choice test, S(1) and S(2) (subscripts), are proposed. The S(1) index is similar to the K-index (P. Holland, 1996) and the K-overscore(2), (K2) index (L. Sotaridona and R. Meijer, in press), but the distribution of the number of matching incorrect answers of the source (examinee s) and the…

The transition period in Romania has generated a series of important changes, including the reforming of the Romanian tertiary education. This process has been accelerated after the signing of the Bologna treaty. Important changes were recorded in many of the quantitative aspects (such as number of student enrolled, pupil-student ratio etc) as…

The development of an index reflecting the probability that the observed correspondence between multiple choice test responses of two examinees was due to chance in the absence of copying was previously reported. The present paper reports the implementation of a statistic requiring less restrictive underlying assumptions but more computation time…

Describes the results of a 3-year investigation into cheating by school personnel in Chicago and the design of a technique that will help to bring the problem under better control. The goals of the research were to measure the prevalence of cheating by teachers and administrators and to analyze the factors that predict cheating. (MLF)

Using multiple choice tests and a statistical method designed to identify flagrant cheaters, the authors undertook to determine (1) the magnitude of cheating on take-home and open-book exams; (2) whether the amount of cheating varied according to three types of examinations (closed-book, open-book or take-home); and (3) if cheating was affected by…

Examines the statistical methods used and those that should be used to detect cheating on standardized tests and enumerates the legal rights that might be violated by use of inadequate methods. Outlines a model of self-policing that would avoid the disadvantages that flow from resorting to judicial solutions. (Author/IRT)

An investigation of the use of probabilistic methodologies for identifying cheaters on classroom multiple-choice examinations concludes that imperfections in the detection techniques, coupled with legal issues, necessarily limit the applicability and utility of these strategies. (Author)

A statistical test for detecting answer copying on multiple-choice tests based on Cohen's kappa is proposed. The test is free of any assumptions on the response processes of the examinees suspected of copying and having served as the source, except for the usual assumption that these processes are probabilistic. Because the asymptotic null and…

The randomized response (RR) technique is often used to obtain answers on sensitive questions. A new method is developed to measure latent variables using the RR technique because direct questioning leads to biased results. Within the RR technique is the probability of the true response modeled by an item response theory (IRT) model. The RR…