Abstract

         We were interested in the proportions of students at NOHS that admit to cheating and also the proportion of students in weighted classes who admit to cheating. We started the project by stating the problem we were to investigate. Then we investigated the topic with background research. We found many studies and facts regarding the topic of cheating. The information gave us insights into the reason why students might cheat in particular honors classes. Next we wrote a survey asking if a student had cheated on a test or assignment and if they were in at least one weighted course. Then, we generated a random sample of 125 NOHS students using the Minitab software. Then we took the list to the main office and copied information regarding the students schedule in order to send out the survey. The information was put on a sticky note and affixed to the survey. Some of the surveys could not be sent out because the students did not have a regular daily schedule at the high school. This led to additional non response and response bias that reduced our sample size. The data from the surveys was put into Minitab and appropriate hypothesis tests were run. A  one prop z  test was used to address the question of if the proportion of students wha dmitt to cheating on as assignment was greater than .5. the  z statistic was -1.12 and the p value was 0.868. Since our p-value is greater than alpha (0.05) we rejected our hypothesis that the true proportion is greater than 0.5. Therefore, we do not have sufficient evidence to say that the proportion of high school students at NOHS who admit to cheating is greater than 0.5. The high p value was a little suprising but not finding a signifacant result was noti because it seemed consistant with our research. We used a 2 prop z test to adress the question of if the propotion differ between students in weighted courses and those who were not. The z statsistic was -.02  and the p value was .981.Since our p-value is greater than alpha (0.05) we rejected our hypothesis that the true proportions were different. Therefore, we do not have sufficient evidence to say that the true proportion of students in weighted courses at NOHS who admit to cheating differs from that of students at NOHS in all general courses.. Again the high p vaule was suprising but after looking at the raw data it made sense that the results were not significant.  We finished the study by identifing weakneses such as reponse bias and the factor of grade level. We would not suggest extrpolation due to the msall sample and the factors unique to North Olmsted. We would suggest futher study  including a l;arge sample size and more school districts inorder to obtain more accurate results.