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Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology / Doris J. Carroll / This study investigated the differences in own behavior and perception of peer behavior among undergraduates among gender, age, race/ethnicity and major. The participants were part of a census of undergraduate students at a Midwestern land grant university. There were 2,759 useable responses to a survey using McCabe’s Academic Integrity Scale. The findings found significant differences between age and gender comparisons. Younger women reported the most behavior in academic dishonesty, and older women reported the lowest behavior in academic dishonesty. The race/ethnicity and major comparisons yielded no differences. Finally, the findings suggest the need for further systematic research on academic dishonesty.

The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of an act of academic misconduct on transfer student GPA, retention and completion. Three groups were compared from data compiled from 2009-2015: freshman and new transfer, transfer and native student in honor code violations, and transfer student between violators and non-violators. The outcome determined if not committing an act of academic misconduct benefits students’ immediate academic success as seen through a maintained or higher GPA, retention from one semester to another, as well as completion. The study utilized the quantitative, quasi-experimental study design. The research was conducted using descriptive statistics to analyze data research question one, What are the differences in the number of honor code violations for transfer and native students. Then, an independent t-test was administered to determine significance regarding research question two: What are the differences in academic indicator for violators and non-violators? (a) GPA in the semester of violation, (b) Retention, and (c) Graduation rate and research question three: What are the differences in academic indicator for transfer student violators and non-violators? (a) GPA at the end of the first semester (b) Retention and (c) Completion