Why do students cheat in online exams and how can it be discouraged?

Since the COVID-19 pandemic that kept many pupils, students, and teachers at home, many schools and universities have conducted online exams. They are advantageous because they save time and offer flexibility. However, cheating attempts present a big challenge for lecturers – how many of those taking such tests actually cheat, and what encourages such deceit or prevents it? 

Psychologists at the University of Cologne in Germany have studied how students’ individual needs, conceptions, and reasons relate to cheating behavior in online exams. 

According to the psychologists Dr. Marco Rüth and Prof. Dr. Kai Kaspar from the Faculty of Human Sciences at the university attempts to cheat can signal that psychological aspects and deeper-seated problems that affect students’ learning behavior and well-being are not given enough attention. This is where their current study comes into play. 

The study in the Journal of Computer-Assisted Learning entitled “Cheating behavior in online exams: On the role of needs, conceptions, and reasons of university students” is based on an anonymous online survey in which 339 students from different German universities participated. 

The extensive study consisted of three parts. The first part found that it’s less likely that students cheat when lecturers demonstrate why the exam content is necessary for their future profession instead of solely pointing out the value of good grades for their future careers. Cheating behavior is also less likely to take place when the exam tasks are presented as authentically as possible and are linked to future job requirements. 

Questions testing knowledge that determine whethe content has been learned by heart, however, encourage cheating attempts. In addition, cheating attempts become less likely when the lecturers offer the students detailed feedback on the exam results instead of only announcing grades.

Relation between discontent at online exams and cheating  

In the second part, the team examined how students’ perceptions of online exams are related to their previous cheating attempts and their intentions to cheat in future online exams. The results have shown that the more negative students’ perception of online exams was – that online exams get in the way of learning, the more intense was their reported cheating behavior in past online exams. 

Furthermore, students’ cheating behavior and intentions to cheat was lower the stronger the students’ opinion that online exams can contribute to the improvement of teaching.

The third part looked students’ main personal reasons for and against cheating in online exams. The three main reasons were the significance of grades, the perception that exams were unfair, and the belief that there is a marginal risk of being caught. Among the most common reasons against cheating were moral norms and values such as honesty as well as the fear of being caught and the subsequent consequences like being expelled.  

Overall, the results of the study show that psychological factors such as individual needs, conceptions, and reasons play an important role in cheating behavior in online exams. “A stronger consideration of these factors when designing courses and exam formats can reduce cheating and, in the long term, improve students’ learning behavior and their well-being,” said Dr. Marco Rüth, corresponding author of the study. “This could eventually strengthen the acceptance of online exams as a format at universities.”