Methods: Assessment questions (using 5- and 6-point Likert scales) were distributed to 119 students from selected levels (response rate=100%); with 78 medical (M) and 41 dental (D) students. The questionnaire was pre-tested on a cohort of dental students. 60% of the questionnaires in this survey were valid and included for analysis.
Results: 2-point Likert scale groupings were used for some sections in analysis (correlations with learning aids and cheating behaviours). Most common cheating behaviours were: signing attendance list for absent students (62%: D=44%, M=73%); asking classmate to sign attendance list (59%: D=61%, M=56%); getting questions/answers from students who had already taken exam (58%: D=59%, M=57%). Serious offences observed were: working on patient without supervision (31%: D=33%, M=30%); attempting to use personal relationships/bribes/threats to gain academic advantages (25%: D=37%, M=18%); sabotaging other students work (23%: D=33%, M=16%) and providing false information to delay writing an exam (20%: D=33%, M=11%). Students who found clinical days a useful learning aid (77%) were less likely to help other students copy during exams (OR=0.25, p=0.02). 85% of the students agreed that written formative paper helped them clarify the level of knowledge/understanding required and were unlikely to get help with clinical work (OR=3.6, p= 0.04). Frequency distributions showed that dental students had a higher tendency for academic misconduct however the results were not statistically significant (using Mann-Whitney tests with 2-point Likert scale distributions).
Conclusion: Medical students were less likely to plagiarize (p=0.04), copy answers during an exam (p= 0.003) and help others copy during an exam (p=0.0001) when compared to dental students.