Examining the relationship of cheating suspicion with demographic variables and academic achievement

In this study, it was aimed to examine whether the number of incorrect to correct erasures, lz* person fit and KL distance index, which were used as cheating detection methods, differed according to the variables of gender, school type, institution type and region of residence. In addition, according to the determined cut-off score, individuals suspected of cheating were identified for each cheating detection index, and it was examined whether individuals' achievement in mathematics courses differed between groups depending on the interactions of suspected cheating and demographic characteristics. For these purposes, the answer forms of 4991 9th grade students in Niğde province were examined and the number of erasures from incorrect to correct, lz* person fit and KL distance index were calculated for each student. Then, according to the cut-off score, students suspected of cheating were identified for each cheating detection index. According to more than one index, the proportion of male students suspected of cheating was higher than that of female students, the proportion of private school students was higher than that of public school students, and the proportion of rural students was higher than that of urban students. It was concluded that the calculated cheating indices differed according to gender, institution type and region of residence. Finally, five different models were used to examine whether individuals' achievement in mathematics differed between groups using AMTM. According to the results, students who were not suspected of cheating were more likely to get high scores than students who were suspected of cheating.