Incidence of Academic Dishonesty among Post-graduate Students in Federal Universities in South South Nigeria

Authors: [1] Emmanuel Etta Ekuri [2] Julius Michael Egbai

Pages: 77-83

Abstract:

This study sought to provide empirical data on rampant academic dishonest behaviours among post graduate students of Federal Universities in South-South Zone of Nigeria; and also to fnd out the underlying factors associated with such academic dishonest behaviours. This study adopted the survey design to collect data from Post-graduate students from 3 Universities in South South zone.. The sample for this study consisted of nine hundred and thirty (930) post graduate students of three federal universities in South-South zone of Nigeria (440 males and 490 females), with age range of 20 and 50years, and a mean age of 38.35 from the Universities of Calabar, Port-Harcourt, and Benin. The sample was selected through stratified random sampling technique. Avalid and reliable 61 item scale (Academic Dishonest Behaviour Questionnaire), with a Cronbach Alpha reliability of .68, was used to measure the frequency of occurrence of each type of dishonest behaviour identified among students. The final version of the questionnaire was administered to graduate students in the respective Universities with the help of four trained research assistants. Frequencies and percentages count of rampant academic dishonest behaviour was calculated, while factor analysis technique was used to isolate the underlying factors associated with academic dishonesty among the target group. The summary of the findings indicates that: Students tended to have been greatly involved in most aspects of academic dishonest behaviours including examination and non examination cheating behaviours. Generally, the underlying factors of academic dishonest behaviours include; impersonation, plagiarism, unruly behaviour, concoction, copying, and colluding.