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Do Academic Honesty Statements Work?

Author

Listed:
  • James Alm

    (Tulane University)

  • Patrick Button

    (Tulane University)

  • Christine P. Smith

    (Tulane University)

  • Toni Weiss

    (Tulane University)

Abstract

Many colleges have attempted to deal with student cheating by using "academic honesty statements," or statements that students must read and acknowledge that they will follow. In this paper, we conduct a randomized controlled experiment that investigates the impact of academic honesty statements on college student examination performance, using an objective measure of student examination performance as a proxy for student cheating. Overall, we find no statistically significant differences in the test performance of students who are given the academic honesty statements and students who are not given these statements. These results indicate that academic honesty statements do not affect student performance in a significant way, so that their use is unlikely to be a reliable tool in reducing cheating. However, other explanations are possible.

Suggested Citation

  • James Alm & Patrick Button & Christine P. Smith & Toni Weiss, 2025. "Do Academic Honesty Statements Work?," Working Papers 2510, Tulane University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:tul:wpaper:2510
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    File URL: http://repec.tulane.edu/RePEc/pdf/tul2510.pdf
    File Function: First Version, November 2025
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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • A22 - General Economics and Teaching - - Economic Education and Teaching of Economics - - - Undergraduate
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments

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