Removing the opportunity for contract cheating in business capstones: a crime prevention case study

Baird, Michael; Clare, Joseph

doi:10.1007/s40979-017-0018-1

Cited by 45 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…The results from this study may also be used to inform assessment design. Baird and Clare (2017) suggest that the opportunity structure for academic misconduct can be disrupted by implementing appropriate assessment designs. Bretag et al (2018b) have also been investigating how assessment design may influence student engagement in contract cheating.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Why Students Do Not Engage in Contract Cheating

2019

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Contract cheating refers to students paying a third party to complete university assessments for them. Although opportunities for commercial contract cheating are widely available in the form of essay mills, only about 3% of students engage in this behaviour. This study examined the reasons why most students do not engage in contract cheating. Students (n = 1204) completed a survey on why they do not engage in contract cheating as well as measures of several individual differences, including self-control, grit and the Dark Triad traits. Morality and motivation for learning received the greatest endorsement for why students do not engage in contract cheating. Controlling for gender, individual differences predicted students’ reasons for not contract cheating. This study supports the use of criminological theories relating to rational choice, self-control and opportunity to explain why students do not engage in contract cheating. Practically, this study may inform academic policies and assessment design that may reduce contract cheating.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Why Students Do Not Engage in Contract Cheating

2019

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“…As discussed extensively elsewhere in the literature on contract cheating (e.g. Mahmood, ; Baird & Clare, ; Clare et al ., ; Rogerson, ), this might include a stronger focus on timed and invigilated assessment techniques, varying assignments between classes (Baird & Clare, ), staged assessments and the use of a viva voce to support written work (Mahmood, ). These approaches are arguably less vulnerable to essay mill interference, as they require students to present themselves in person, or to engage in some form of interaction, to achieve the assessment outcome.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…As indicated above, much prior work on contract cheating has focused on either the demand side, in terms of students’ willingness to pay for its outputs (Rigby et al ., ), or on the institutional perspective, with a particular focus on the detection and prevention of contract cheating by universities (Mahmood, ; Baird & Clare, ; Clare et al ., ; Rogerson, ). In terms of institutions militating against contract cheating, Baird and Claire () have suggested introducing a series of interventions into the design of student assessments. These include ( inter alia ) varying the basic group work assessment around different conditions, making it harder to share data between groups (an example of increasing the effort required to cheat) and making academic misconduct penalties more visible to students (an example of increasing perceived risk of contract cheating).…”

Section: Academic Misconduct and Integrity In He And Contract Cheatingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Selwyn, ; Rigby et al ., ) and (ii) the detection and policing of contract cheating by HE institutions, staff and systems (e.g. Baird & Clare, ; Clare et al ., ; Rogerson, ). The contribution of this article is that it examines contract cheating in HE from a supply‐side perspective, specifically in terms of the ‘manufacture’ of work for students by a third party.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Contract cheating in UK higher education: A covert investigation of essay mills

Medway

Roper

Gillooly

2018

British Educational Res J

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Contract cheating is currently a concern for universities and the higher education (HE) sector. It has been brought into the spotlight in recent years through the growth of online essay mills, where students can easily commission and purchase written assessment responses. This study contributes to the wider literature on academic integrity in HE by examining the phenomenon of contract cheating from a supply-side perspective, thereby considering the essay mill offering and student interaction with it. The authors covertly engage with five essay mills, before successfully completing an assignment purchase with two of these providers. The pre-purchase stage of an assignment transaction is first examined, unpacking ten reassurance cues used by essay mill providers in the text of their websites. These reassurance cues help to ensure the attractiveness of the essay mill product to potential student consumers. The analysis then moves to explore the ethical discourses around academic integrity that essay mills provide, revealing inconsistencies in their stance towards the potential for academic misconduct from the use of essay mill services. Finally, the article explores the quality of the essay mill product, through grading and Turnitin â reports for the two purchased essay mill assignments. Following recent calls for the outlawing of essay mills, this article provides a timely addition to current understanding of this phenomenon, and the associated challenges of contract cheating in HE.

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“…Wellman and Fallon (2012) identified that contract cheating was taking place on an MBA level module. Baird and Clare (2017) found this occurring on a capstone project where students were working in interdisciplinary teams, but collaborating to agree to hire a third party. Both of these case studies could be considered as students outsourcing assessed work at a high academic level.…”

Section: Examples Of Contract Cheating Publications By Disciplinementioning

confidence: 99%

Academic Discipline Integration by Contract Cheating Services and Essay Mills

Lancaster

2020

J Acad Ethics

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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. BackgroundThe challenge of students breaching academic integrity continues to be a problem for higher education. As technology develops, the ways in which students cheat, intentionally or

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Removing the opportunity for contract cheating in business capstones: a crime prevention case study

Cited by 45 publications

References 13 publications

Why Students Do Not Engage in Contract Cheating

Why Students Do Not Engage in Contract Cheating

Contract cheating in UK higher education: A covert investigation of essay mills

Academic Discipline Integration by Contract Cheating Services and Essay Mills

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