Prevalence and factors associated with academic plagiarism in freshmen students of Social Work and Social Education: an empirical analysis

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.30827/relieve.v29i2.29055

Keywords:

academic plagiarism, academic integrity, fraud in evaluation tests, higher education
Agencies: Ministry of Universities of Spain and the Vice-Rector for Research of the University of the Balearic Islands.“Scholarships for the requalification of the Spanish university system for the period 2021-2023”. Ruben Comas Forgas.

Abstract

This article focuses on the study of academic plagiarism among freshmen university students enrolled in the degrees of Social Work and Social Education. Through a questionnaire applied to 913 students from 6 cohorts, the prevalence of plagiarism and some of the main factors associated with this phenomenon are analysed. The main results indicate that the students with the greatest tendency to plagiarize are associated with being male, younger, consider themselves to be worse students, value plagiarism less seriously, are poorly motivated by their studies and face academic tasks with a propensity to procrastinate. Finally, the students who plagiarize the most in their assignments are also the ones with the greatest propensity toward dishonest behaviour in other evaluation activities and the ones who attach the least seriousness to this fraud. The conclusions of the study indicate and provide areas for interventions aimed at promoting academic integrity and reducing fraudulent practices in higher education based on evidence.

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Author Biographies

Rubén Comas Forgas, Balearic Islands University, Spain

European PhD. in Educational Sciences from the University of the Balearic Islands (2009). He has been a visiting researcher at several international centres, including: University of East Anglia (United Kingdom), Liverpool John Moores Univerity (United Kingdom), Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences (Greece), Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán (Mexico) and Stockholm University (Sweden). He is coordinator of the Red-IA and directs various national and European projects (https://www.uib.es/es/personal/ABTE1NzI1/). (email: rubencomas@uib.es) 

Antoni Cerdà-Navarro, Balearic Islands University, Spain

Degree in Sociology and Master in Sociology and Anthropology of Public Policy by the University of Valencia. Master in Applied Social Research and Data Analysis at the Sociological Research Center (CIS). PhD. by the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB) with the thesis 'Early educational dropout in mid-level professional training'. He is currently Ass. Professor and member of the Education and Citizenship Research Group (EiC), the Institute for Educational Research and Innovation (IRIE) and the Ibero-American Research Network for Academic Integrity. His main areas of study are the sociology of education and work, research methods and techniques, academic integrity, and honesty. (email: antoni.cerda@uib.cat) 

Carmen Touza Garma, Balearic Islands University, Spain

PhD. in Psychology from the Complutense University of Madrid. She is currently Ass. Professor at the Department of Pedagogy and Specific Didactics of the University of the Balearic Islands and Vice-Rector for Students. She is also a member of the Education and Citizenship Research Group (EiC). Her research has focused on abuse in the family, mai the detection and prevention of abuse of the elderly, and on academic integrity. (email: carmen.touza@uib.es) 

Lázaro Moreno Herrera, Stockholm University, Sweden

PhD. in Pedagogy from Åkademi University, Finland (1998), currently Professor and scientific director of the Vocational Technical Teaching Research Group (ETP) at the Department of Education, Stockholm University, Sweden. His research interests include vocational education (VET), educational policies, didactics, and international comparative studies of the VET system. He is main editor of the Palgrave Series in “Technology and Vocational Education and training”, member of the editorial board of prestigious research journals, lecturer at different universities and scientific advisor to similar research groups at universities in Europe and Asia. (email: lazaro.moreno@edu.su.se)

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Published

2023-12-11

How to Cite

Comas Forgas, R., Cerdà-Navarro, A., Touza Garma, C., & Moreno Herrera, L. (2023). Prevalence and factors associated with academic plagiarism in freshmen students of Social Work and Social Education: an empirical analysis . RELIEVE – Electronic Journal of Educational Research and Evaluation, 29(2). https://doi.org/10.30827/relieve.v29i2.29055

Issue

Vol. 29 No. 2 (2023): Academic integrity in the era of generative artificial intelligence (GAI)

Section

Special Section

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