The Impact of an Honor Code on Cheating in Online Courses Three
studies were conducted to assess the effect of an honor code on
self-reported cheating during online quizzes in an Introductory
Psychology course. In Study 1 (N = 40), the authors found that
72.5% of students reported cheating on at least one of the 14
quizzes (M = 4.15), typically by consulting the textbook or the
online course materials. In Study 2 (N = 84), students were
randomly assigned to a fully asynchronous online section in
which students were required to digitally sign an honor code or
to a section without such a requirement.Contrary to
expectations, no significant difference in self-reported
cheating emerged between students who signed the honor code
(61.5%) and students who did not sign the code (50%). In Study 3
(N = 165), the authors tested students in blended sections and
found that students who signed an honor code were about 30% less
likely to report cheating (57.6%) than those who did not sign
(81.8%). The authors discuss the im