Effective factors on students’ cheatingbehaviors on exams: A case study of Gorgan Islamic Azad University

Students’ cheating on exams is one of the common problems in higher education system in Iran. The investigations indicated that the condition of academic cheating in Iran has come to a crisis phase. The purpose of this study was to identify effective factors in Gorgan Islamic Azad University students’ cheating. The research method was descriptive-correlational survey. The target population included all bachelor’s students in Gorgan Islamic Azad University (N=401). By using simple sampling method and Krejcie & Morgan’s table, 196 people were selected and finally 180 filled questionnaires were collected. The research instrument was structural questionnaire with close-ended questions which its validity and reliability was confirmed by panel of experts and Cranach’ sapha test, respectively. Descriptive and nonparametric statistical methods were used to analyze information. The descriptive results showed that the main methods of respondents for cheating on exams were as follows: “permitting other students to see my paper” (86.70%), “coping fromother students’ exam sheet with their cooperation” (80%), and “using sign language especially fingers for correct choices” (70%). The results of correlation coefficient showed that there was a statistically significant relationship between respondents’ demographic and psychological variables with their cheating behaviors. The results of the bivariate regression revealed that 39 percent of variability in students’ cheating behavior stems from attitude toward cheating on exams, motivation for cheating on exams, age, and years at the university.