Psychology Graduate Students Weigh In: Qualitative Analysis of Academic Dishonesty and Suggestion Prevention Strategies Jennifer Minarcik 1 & Ana J. Bridges 1 # Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015 Abstract The current qualitative study investigated prevalence and types of academic integ- rity violations in psychology graduate students (N =201) and solicited student recommenda- tions for how academic institutions, professors, and peers may act to discourage or prevent its occurrence. Students were recruited through email lists and asked to participate in an online study with a series of open-ended questions assessing integrity violations and prevention recommendations. Results revealed academic integrity violations were relatively infrequent (8 % of the sample) and most (75 % of reported incidents) were of relatively low severity (e.g., unauthorized use of notes during an assignment). Common antecedents to integrity violations included inadequate preparation, task difficulty, and external stressors such as health ailments that interfered with preparation. Most (53 %) violators reported engaging in a rational decision making process, weighing the pros and cons of cheating, and most (60 %) did not reveal the violation to anyone. The majority of violations (81 %) resulted in no negative consequences to the student and 44 % reported they would do it again. Students recommended better dissem- ination of integrity policies, greater oversight of graduate students, harsher punishments for violations, and consistent reporting of violations as prevention strategies. Results highlight how academic dishonesty in psychology graduate students may be a product of multiple time and resource demands, coupled with low self-efficacy to meet or negotiate these demands. Despite reports of external pressures being the top reason for academic integrity violations, few recommendations focused on decreasing external pressures as a mechanism to curb cheating. Keywords Academic dishonesty . Cheating . Integrity . Graduate students . Prevention Cheating, or academic dishonesty, is prevalent and problematic in academic institutions. Particularly now with the addition of computer-based classroom and Internet research, a larger J Acad Ethics DOI 10.1007/s10805-015-9230-x * Ana J. Bridges abridges@uark.edu 1 Department of Psychological Science, University of Arkansas, 216 Memorial Hall, Fayetteville AR 72701, USA