Table 1 Awareness and perceptions about plagiarism among students and supervisors
From: Students’ and supervisors’ knowledge and attitudes regarding plagiarism and referencing
All participants | Female | Male | European/North American | Other nationalities | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Participants | 152 | 98 | 53 | 113 | 38 |
Age | 31.3 (SD 7.6) | 30.1 (SD 7.1) | 33.8 (SD 8.1) | 30.2 (SD 7.6) | 34.5 (SD 7.0) |
Ever authored or co-authored a peer-reviewed publication | 76/152 (50%) | 59/98 (60.2%) | 16/53 (30.2%)*** | 66/113 (58.4%) | 10 /38 (26.3%)*** |
Ever heard about plagiarism? | 140/143 (97.9%) | 89/91 (97.8%) | 50/51 (98.0%) | 105/105 (100%) | 34/37 (91.9%)* |
How common do you think it is? | |||||
I know many people doing this | 2/138 (1.5%) | 1/88 (1.1%) | 1/49 (2.0%) | 1/102 (1.0%) | 1/35 (2.9%) |
I think it is rather common | 48/138 (34.8%) | 30/88 (34.1%) | 18/49 (36.7%) | 32/102 (31.4%) | 15/35 (42.9%) |
I have heard it happens, but don’t think it is very common | 85/138 (61.6%) | 54/88 (61.4%) | 30/49 (61.2%) | 67/102 (65.7%) | 18/35 (51.4%) |
I have never heard about people doing this | 3/138 (2.2%) | 3/88 (3.4%) | 0/49 (0%) | 2/102 (2.0%) | 1/35 (2.9%) |
What do you think is the most common reason to why people plagiarize? | |||||
Because of time constraints | 39/138 (28.3%) | 27/88 (30.7%) | 11/49 (22.5%) | 33/102 (32.4%) | 6/35 (17/1%) |
Because they feel they cannot write as well as others | 27/138 (19.6%) | 14/88 (15.9%) | 13/49 (26.5%) | 15/102 (14.7%) | 12/35 (34.3%) |
Because they do not know it is wrong | 26/138 (18.8%) | 18/88 (20.5%) | 8/49 (16.3%) | 20/102 (19.6%) | 6/35 (17.1%) |
Other reasons | 46/138 (33.3%) | 29/88 (32.9%) | 17/49 (34.7%) | 34/102 (33.3%) | 11/35 (31.4%) |
Do you think this was a useful exercise? | |||||
Yes, it was somewhat useful | 68/129 (52.7%) | 45/82 (54.9%) | 23/47 (48.9%) | 55/93 (59.1%) | 13/35 (37.1%) |
Yes, I found it very useful | 38/129 (29.5%) | 21/82 (25.6%) | 17/47 (36.2%) | 18/93 (19.4%) | 20/35 (57.1%)*** |
I wish I had done it before | 3/129 (2.3%) | 3/82 (3.7%) | 0/47 (0%) | 3/93 (3.2%) | 0/35 (0%) |
No, this is nothing new | 7/129 (5.4%) | 5/82 (6.1) | 2/47 (4.3%) | 6/93 (6.5%) | 0/35 (0%) |
Not useful for me, but I think others may benefit | 13/129 (10.1%) | 8/82 (9.8%) | 5/47 (10.6%) | 11/93 (11.8%) | 2/35 (5.7%) |