Analysis of Root Causes of Contract Cheating in Project Management Ed

This report investigates the root causes of contract cheating, particularly among international project management students. It examines the prevalence and evolving nature of contract cheating, highlighting the challenges in detection and the reliance on educators' evaluation skills. The study reviews relevant articles, summarizes a key report on institutional toolkits to combat contract cheating, and critically appraises the legal approaches to addressing this issue. Preliminary research questions are posed, focusing on the extent of the problem, its impact, and potential solutions. The author provides a personal reflection on the importance of academic integrity and the need for comprehensive policies to tackle contract cheating effectively, noting that contract cheating poses potential threats to standards in different higher educations.

Running head: ROOT CAUSES OF CONTRACT CHEATING
Root causes of contract cheating
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author Note

1ROOT CAUSES OF CONTRACT CHEATING
Executive summary
The study has analyzed the primary reasons beyond contract cheating. This problem has to lead to
huge issues in the educations sectors of the UK. Some relevant articles are chosen here, and one of
them is analyzed, critically appraised. Further, a personal reflection is also demonstrated in this
paper.

2ROOT CAUSES OF CONTRACT CHEATING
Table of Contents
1. Introduction:......................................................................................................................................3
2. Description of contract cheating:.......................................................................................................3
2. Four relevant articles in contract cheating:........................................................................................5
3. Summary of the most relevant report:...............................................................................................5
4. Critical appraisal of the article:..........................................................................................................7
5. Preliminary research questions:.........................................................................................................7
6. Screenshot of Turnitin report:............................................................................................................8
7. Personal reflection:............................................................................................................................8
8. Conclusion:........................................................................................................................................9
9. References:......................................................................................................................................10

3ROOT CAUSES OF CONTRACT CHEATING
Research Topic: Investigating root causes of contract cheating in context of
international Project Management students
1. Introduction:
Detection of contract cheating for written submission is complicated. This is beyond directly
detectable plagiarism through technology. Successful identification of potential cases of contract
cheating is highly dependent on knowledge and assessors of a student (Mellar et al. 2018).
The following report undergoes an investigation of causes of contract cheating. This is done
under the context of international management students.
2. Description of contract cheating:
Contract cheating has extended beyond previous definitions. This is used to describe students
outsourcing assessable work for external parties. This is to involve other behaviors like trading,
impersonation and ghosting. As the range of recognized contract cheating behaviours has continued
to extend, the understanding of prevalence and cause of challenges increases (Fendler and Godbey
2016). This method of detecting occurrences has been highly dependent on a person charged with
liability to grade the work. Here, the educators have been grading assessable students against task
specifications, discipline criteria and rubrics. Moreover, they are also needed to find out that students
have been working on their own. His is because of the continuous and evolving practices of present
contract cheating. Moreover, there is necessary of evolutionary approach towards enhancing
assessor’s evaluation skills.

4ROOT CAUSES OF CONTRACT CHEATING
Preparation
Review, analysis, criteria and
curricula
Examination, grading
of submissions
Reviewing language usage,
language consistency and text
presentation
Evaluation
Conversations
regarding patterns
and irregularities
Comparing
irregularities
around cohorts and
history of students
Figure 1: “Tool to identify impacts of contract cheating”
(Source: Fendler and Godbey 2016, page number: 71-85)

5ROOT CAUSES OF CONTRACT CHEATING
2. Four relevant articles in contract cheating:
Title Author Keyword
Institutional toolkit to combat
contract cheating
Moriarty et al. (2016) contract cheating, impact,
university
Contract cheating & the
market in essays
Rigby et al. (2015) CheatingChoice experiment,
Mixed logit, Risk preference,
Gamble, Asymmetric
information
Detecting contract cheating in
essay and report submissions
process, patterns, clues and
conversations
Rogerson(2017) Contract cheating, Assessment
design, Plagiarism, Student
conversations.
Addressing cheating in e-
assessment using student
authentication and
authorship checking
systemsteachers’ perspectives
Mellar et al. (2018) Student authentication, E-
assessment, Teachers’
perspectives and Authorship
checking
3. Summary of the most relevant report:
To understand the current context, the first article is chosen. The report suggests that contract
cheating is kinds of academic dishonesty where students receive academic tasks finished on behalf
of they submit for academic credit. Individuals were performing scholarly works for students. The
contract cheating providers have been coming in various forms. This includes freelancers, online

6ROOT CAUSES OF CONTRACT CHEATING
organisations, employees, contractors working with those companies and so on. Here, for instance,
students who have been contracting to cheat have been purchasing assignments from online sites, via
craigslist and various other online platforms. This retrieves assistances form people who have been
going beyond just modifications to write of that assignment for resolving those problems. They
should be participating in unauthorised discussion groups to share answers for assignments over file
sharing and social media sites such as WeCahr or Facebook. They can purchase or post answers for
exams, assignments, issues and various analysed works. They must pay people to write a review or
tests (Moriarity et al. 2016).
Moreover, the article states that this has been a big issue across the extent of the problem are
complicated to measure. Neither students nor contract cheating has been providing anonymously or
undergrounds. Besides, the point suspected to be widespread and rising every year. Currently, a
report from QAA or Quality Assurance Agency of UK has proposed that a problem is adequate in
warranting then to consider actions are ensuring future qualities of education in the nation and
encourage every quality assurance o accrediting agencies across the world to get finished by others.
Further, this has been affecting every people while others have completed student's commission
pieces of work. Thus they have been submitting those pieces of credits towards credentials of
education. Here, the credentials provided by sections of training institutions have been trustworthy
and causing reputational damages to various educational institutions. This has been allowing
students in purchasing their way towards a degree. This it has turned all educational institutions that
are untrustworthy. In this way, it has been causing reputational harms for educational institutes for
allowing students for purchasing a move to a degree. Thus they have been turning all their
educational institutions to diploma mills and devaluing the education of students. These students
have been playing rules to contribute to creating cultures that lead to fraud and the
commercialisation of education (Moriarity et al. 2016).

7ROOT CAUSES OF CONTRACT CHEATING
4. Critical appraisal of the article:
The article has presented a proposal for particular laws to target contract cheating. This is
enacted most of the jurisdictions. They have analysed contract cheating under various issues that are
required to consider before any legal approach is successful. This must be changing the legal status
of contract cheating, making that less likely to occur. The article has demonstrated that this can be
achieved articulately. They also analyse who has actually been prosecuted and what offences are
they committing. They have suggested some answers to those queries and have been identifying
various unintended potential outcomes. Thus they need to consider whether those legal approaches
are possible or desirable additionally. Therefore one can conclude that these legal approaches to
contract cheating are reasonable and on balance should be proper. In the paper, UK Law is set as an
example, where they offer a particular suggestion towards law marks across the world. This is how
this can be achieved and concluded that most successful approaches have been focusing highly on
laws targeting providers of contract cheating (Moriarity et al. 2016).
5. Preliminary research questions:
The primary research questions are identified below.
 Is contract cheating a huge problem?
 How has it been affecting every people?
 Who can help?
 What can be done for countering the culture of contract cheating?
 What can be done to prevent and find contract cheating?
 How can the contract cheating be detected?
 How one can assure contract cheating is mostly prohibited?

8ROOT CAUSES OF CONTRACT CHEATING
6. Screenshot of Turnitin report:
Here, a screenshot of plagiarism retrieved from Turnitin report is presented.
7. Personal reflection:
I have understood that contract cheating is defined as a procuring task from various sources.
Here, the amount of cases of contract cheating has been highly rising. For addressing the problems, I
must say that institutions, academic staffs and students should be engaged in processes advancing in
academic integrity and ethos to campus life. Hence, I should suggest that this in conjunction with
good analysis design, string technological safety net and a healthy relationship between employees
and students can help to deter this contract cheating dilemma. This must also address the academic
and legal elements of integrity breaches. Nevertheless, there have been potential approaches to
tackle contract cheating through possible complications and civil laws. These are beyond the scope
of this study and lead me to go for future research.

9ROOT CAUSES OF CONTRACT CHEATING
Further, various policies has never been covering contract cheating sufficiently. For instance,
They have been covering cheating of students and policies have been inaccurately treating those
behavior as exam cheating or plagiarism. Hence it suggests working with local legislators or in other
words, a legal approach is to be taken. This should be made illegal and students must mistakenly
conflate legal with ethical.
8. Conclusion:
The above study shows that there can be different legal approaches that must be considered
seriously. It is understood that contract cheating, as per nature and definition has been primarily
wrong and has been posing potential threats to standards in different higher educations. This also
leads to public security. The report has proposed different practical suggestions to peruse legal
approaches.

10ROOT CAUSES OF CONTRACT CHEATING
9. References:
Fendler, R.J. and Godbey, J.M., 2016. Cheaters should never win: Eliminating the benefits of
cheating. Journal of Academic Ethics, 14(1), pp.71-85.
Mellar, H., Peytcheva-Forsyth, R., Kocdar, S., Karadeniz, A. and Yovkova, B., 2018. Addressing
cheating in e-assessment using student authentication and authorship checking systems: teachers’
perspectives. International Journal for Educational Integrity, 14(1), p.2.
Moriarty, C., Lang, C., Usdansky, M., Kanani, M., Jamieson, M., Gallant, T.B. and George, V.,
2016. INSTITUTIONAL TOOLKIT TO COMBAT CONTRACT CHEATING.
Rigby, D., Burton, M., Balcombe, K., Bateman, I. and Mulatu, A., 2015. Contract cheating & the
market in essays. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 111, pp.23-37.
Rogerson, A.M., 2017. Detecting contract cheating in essay and report submissions: process,
patterns, clues and conversations. International Journal for Educational Integrity, 13(1), p.10.