I'm not sure that proof beyond reasonable doubt is the correct standard. We aren't sending anyone to prison.
Paul C. Bernhardt Department of Psychology Frostburg State University Frostburg, Maryland -----Original Message----- From: Paul Brandon [mailto:paul.bran...@mnsu.edu] Sent: Thu 12/17/2009 5:33 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: Re: [tips] It's that plagiarism time of year again... The problem is that 'most likely' is not the same as 'proof beyond a reasonable doubt' as the basis for sanctions against a student you are accusing of cheating. On Dec 17, 2009, at 3:54 PM, Beth Benoit wrote: > I think the key, John, is comparing performance records. The > bright student continued on to have an excellent exam. The poor > student, who was close to failing (and also happened to sit near > the good student) suddenly had an astounding performance. Applying > Occam's Razor here: What seems like the most likely explanation is > the most likely explanation. And he/she probably couldn't see her > neighbor's paper clearly enough to add the fine computation her > neighbor provided, so just gave the answer. > > I continue to marvel, as you and I discussed this afternoon, that > all too frequently, the poor students don't realize that to > suddenly turn in an almost perfect exam, or as in Carol's student's > case, an excellent paper, is just TOO suspicious. > > Beth Benoit > Granite State College > Plymouth State University > New Hampshire > > On Thu, Dec 17, 2009 at 4:00 PM, John Kulig > <ku...@mail.plymouth.edu> wrote: > > Yes, that time of year again! I have never used Turnitin.com but I > want to introduce another problem I just encountered ... > > Two students in stats both turned in an exam with the exact same > multiple choice answers(35 out of 39 correct, and both the correct > AND incorrect choices were identical). I have never seen this > happen before. One student was aceing the class and the other was > on the verge of failing. I have a pretty solid case of copying not > just on this point on other parts of the exam because the poorer > student also had correct AND incorrect answers on the computation > part out to two decimal places (including a "proportion of > variance" effect size of 2.15 which is bogus), all without > computation, just answers written down. Because I am grading non- > stop and need a diversion, I am intrigued with guestimating the > probability of the MC being identical on all 39 given no cheating. > It's obviously a low probability as my MC scores average close to > "optimal difficulty" level (in the 60 - 70% range), so it's not the > case that most people get most of them correct. > > Anybody ever try to model this problem? I can assume they both knew > 35 answers, get the frequencies of all the wrong answers for the > class, and assume people guess randomly when they don't know. But > they only missed 4. I can also regress this exam on previous exam > scores and show that the poor student getting only 4 wrong is an > outlier, but that may not be convincing enough .. and thoughts > would be appreciated. > > If the student were brigher they should have changed a few answers > and scribbled a few computations here and there on the sheet! > > -------------------------- > John W. Kulig > Professor of Psychology > Plymouth State University > Plymouth NH 03264 > -------------------------- > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "DeVolder Carol L" <devoldercar...@sau.edu> > To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)" > <tips@acsun.frostburg.edu> > Sent: Thursday, December 17, 2009 2:56:53 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada > Eastern > Subject: [tips] It's that plagiarism time of year again... > > Hi, > I have a student who has done poorly on his exams but has turned in > a stunningly good paper. Frankly, I don't think he wrote it but I'm > having difficulty showing that. I have Googled key phrases but > nothing has turned up, so I don't think he copied and pasted, I > think he bought it. Can anyone give me some idea of what > Turnitin.com charges for an individual license? It's the only thing > I can think of, other than confronting the student, which will most > likely be my next step. I hate this stuff, it takes so much time > and really takes a toll on my enthusiasm for grading. > > Thanks in advance for any help you can provide. > Carol > > > > > Carol DeVolder, Ph.D. > Professor of Psychology > Chair, Department of Psychology > St. Ambrose University > Davenport, Iowa 52803 > > phone: 563-333-6482 > e-mail: devoldercar...@sau.edu > > > > > --- > To make changes to your subscription contact: > > Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) > > --- > To make changes to your subscription contact: > > Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) > > --- > To make changes to your subscription contact: > > Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) Paul Brandon Emeritus Professor of Psychology Minnesota State University, Mankato paul.bran...@mnsu.edu --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
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