Exploring staff perceptions of student plagiarism

This paper presents analysis of qualitative data from a research project looking at staff perceptions of plagiarism at a post-1992 university. Twenty-six members of staff from departments and academic schools from across the university took part in open and semi-structured interviews. Analysis shows that variable definitions of plagiarism exist; both regarding student activities that constitute plagiarism and the way in which plagiarism is perceived to be related to cheating. The factors underlying these personal definitions are unclear, but the analysis suggests that values perceived to underpin higher education may play an important role. This paper provides new empirical data on staff perceptions of student plagiarism, which complement previous research on student perceptions. The potential implications of different perceptions of plagiarism, and a mismatch between staff and student understandings is highlighted as an area for further consideration.