MEASURING STUDENTS PERCEPTIONS ABOUT CHEATING IN 6 COUNTRIES

Cross-national data from 1,068 Grade 11 students (223 from Australia, 135 from the former East Germany, 114 from Costa Rica, 213 from the fo rmer West Germany, 293 from the USA and 90 from Austria) were collecte d by questionnaire in a study relating to perceptions about cheating. Cheating perceptions were defined in terms of three aspects: perceptio ns of what constitutes cheating, perceptions of why cheating occurs, a nd perceptions of how cheating can be discouraged. Known sources of bi as were taken into account before data collection and during data anal ysis to produce an anti-cheating perception scale (from strong to weak ) with sound psychometric properties. The results showed that Australi ans, with their cultural emphasis on the ''fair go mate'' syndrome com bined with personal achievement, tended towards the stronger end of th e scale, and the West Germans, with their cultural emphasis on coopera tive learning to succeed, tended towards the weaker end, with students from the other countries falling between them.