Bob Ives | University of Nevada, Reno (original) (raw)

Papers by Bob Ives

Neutralization Theory proposes that when people engage in behavior that they know is not approved... more Neutralization Theory proposes that when people engage in behavior that they know is not approved by society, they neutralize, or justify, their behavior by applying one or more of several neutralization techniques In this report we use data from a study that investigated selfreported reasons for academic misconduct from post-secondary students in Romania. We found that students offered reasons that range widely, and well beyond the options included in Neutralization Theory. Factor analysis of the responses also lead to the conclusion that reasons for committing academic misconduct may be unidimensional.

Roma have been described as the most hated minority in Europe. Particularly in Southeastern Europ... more Roma have been described as the most hated minority in Europe. Particularly in Southeastern Europe (SEE), this bias is reflected in how Roma children are treated and segregated in schools. Anecdotal evidence shows that Roma parents may give permission for their children to be included in segregated programs in order to benefit from payments, food and other compensations. This pattern may explain the overrepresentation of Roma children in segregated settings for children with disabilities in the region. In this analysis of parent survey data from ten SEE countries, with oversampling of the Roma minority, we found that Roma parents were no more likely to report that their children had learning difficulties than non-Roma parents. Instead, books in the home was the strongest single predictor of whether parents in either group reported that their children had learning problems.

ICERI proceedings, Nov 1, 2016

Educational studies, Jul 1, 2012

Participants in this study were ethnic Hungarian secondary students attending high schools in Rom... more Participants in this study were ethnic Hungarian secondary students attending high schools in Romania in which Hungarian was the primary language of instruction. Attitudes of participants toward ethnic and cultural groups were measured using a variation of the Bogardus (1933) Scale of Social Distance. Results were consistent with predictions based on Allport's intergroup contact theory. Students reported a wide range

SAGE Open, Apr 1, 2021

The tendency to cheat is consubstantial to any kind of education and training process involving w... more The tendency to cheat is consubstantial to any kind of education and training process involving work and effort. The study was conducted on 194 participants, first- and second-year students from the bachelor and master’s programs from several engineering and humanities faculties from Brasov. The Academic Adjustment Questionnaire and the Academic Ethics Questionnaire (AEQ) were applied. The aim of the research was to highlight the internal structure of the two questionnaires and to investigate the associations between academic adjustment, academic dishonesty. Several demographic variables were taken into consideration. The results showed good construct validity and reliability for the scales and significant correlations between academic adjustment and academic dishonesty. Future research should examine to what extent AEQ is able to capture the impact of information technology on dishonest behavior or whether the matter requires a special approach or whether AEQ can support effective intervention programs to stop the phenomenon of academic dishonesty.

International journal for educational integrity, Sep 16, 2020

Academic misconduct (AM) runs rampant across higher education institutions in the US and internat... more Academic misconduct (AM) runs rampant across higher education institutions in the US and internationally. Ample empirical research has identified myriad student variables that predict AM. However, two variables have been unexamined: the quality of conceptual knowledge university students have on AM and the relation between goals for going to university and reception to intervention on AM. Quantitative content analysis on written responses by 356 first-year university students reported surface-level knowledge of AM, frequent citation of extrinsic goals, and a lack of association between goals and receptiveness to intervention. Results corroborate prior research on university students' limited understanding of AM. Results suggest that efforts to address AM do not need to tailor intervention components to match students' goals for attending university.

International journal of educational technology in higher education, Nov 17, 2021

The abrupt change in higher education from face-to-face to online learning in the Spring of 2020 ... more The abrupt change in higher education from face-to-face to online learning in the Spring of 2020 raised concerns about the accessibility of online instruction, as well as the quality of instruction in online learning (Lassoued et al., 2020). As of this writing, a search for "COVID" through the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) database yielded 835 results. About half of those did not even mention "online" instruction, and most of those that remain were not based on original empirical research. The remaining research studies were not based on data from students in higher education to address concerns about access and quality of instruction related to this transition to online instruction. A review of studies addressing the COVID-19 pandemic and higher education found that the large majority of studies were descriptive, and that previous reviews focused

Acta Didactica Napocensia, 2009

This paper presents the data from a current study involving 41 Romanian secondary science teacher... more This paper presents the data from a current study involving 41 Romanian secondary science teachers and a previously published study that compared 89 Spanish and 42 US secondary science teachers. All three groups were convenience samples who answered a two part questionnaire that was given in English, Spanish or Romanian, depending on the sample. The overriding question was whether citizens in countries that have different environmental experiences perceive threats to the biosphere differently and teach about different environmental problems/threats in science classes if at all. Five specific research questions were addressed including the following two: 1) What were some of technological and environmental problems and or threats that were discussed in the 2002 Johannesburg Earth Summit? 2) Can you describe any reasons why you do or do not teach about environmental and technological problems and or threats in your science classes? The results indicated considerable differences in the three nationalities perceptions of and understanding of threats to the biosphere. Perhaps the most important conclusions were: First, perceptions of environmental threats are based to a large degree on citizens personal experiences with the threat/s in the environment in which they live even when those threats may not be the most urgent global threats; and second, if all citizens, no matter where they live, are to become better informed about global threats to the biosphere faced by the world as a whole, there must be a common global science curriculum that addresses these threats.

Educational Research, Mar 1, 2013

Background: Budgets for teacher education programmes have been substantially reduced as a result ... more Background: Budgets for teacher education programmes have been substantially reduced as a result of the global economic crisis. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare the teacher education budget cutting processes and procedures for universities in Romania versus one university in the United States. Sample: The data were collected from six Romanian universities that all have teacher education programmes. These universities represent the range of higher education quality in the country as indicated by their publication rates. Data from these universities were compared with those from the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR). UNR is the flagship university in the Nevada System of Higher Education, and Nevada has been harder hit by the recent global economic crisis than any other state in the United States and cuts to teacher education there have been substantial. Design and methods: Data about the budget cutting processes and decisions in the teacher education programmes of six Romanian universities were collected through an electronic survey. These data were compared with the processes and decisions made at the UNR. Results: The budget cutting processes in Romania were less transparent, and involved less input from stakeholders such as faculty and staff. Most decisions were made at a higher level of authority in Romania, and cuts in Romania were more likely to be across the board rather than more strategically targeted as they were in Nevada. Conclusions: These differences are discussed in terms of the historical legacy of structures and policies in Romania, and the resistance to reform inherent in those structures and policies.

Advances in higher education and professional development book series, 2019

Research into academic integrity (AI) has a long history of extensive work to estimate the preval... more Research into academic integrity (AI) has a long history of extensive work to estimate the prevalence of and predictors for academic misconduct in higher education (HE). In addition, concern about the high prevalence of academic misconduct has justified a proliferation of recommendations for reducing academic misconduct. Scholars have lamented, however, the dearth of research investigating the effectiveness of interventions to prevent academic misconduct. This chapter reports on a review of 97 quantitative studies that investigated the effectiveness of interventions related to academic misconduct in HE. The evidence supports the effectiveness of textmatching software and honor code systems in reducing plagiarism and cheating, respectively. The effectiveness of proctoring examinations, providing instruction about plagiarism, and delivering instruction about AI are not supported by the evidence. Recommendations for future research are suggested.

Higher Education, Jan 21, 2023

The shift to online instruction in higher education related to the COVID-19 pandemic has raised w... more The shift to online instruction in higher education related to the COVID-19 pandemic has raised worldwide concerns about an increase in academic misconduct (cheating and plagiarism). However, data to document any increase is sparse. For this study, we collected survey data from 484 students in 11 universities in the USA, and 410 students in five universities in Romania. The data support the conclusions that (1) cheating on exams increased with the shift to online instruction, but plagiarism and cheating on assignments may not have increased, (2) significant differences between the two countries suggest that intervention planning should avoid assuming that results from one context may generalize to another, and (3) influencing student beliefs about rates of AM among their peers may be a fruitful new route for reducing academic misconduct.

Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, Dec 6, 2020

Research on contract cheating usually considers most forms of outsourcing combined, although stud... more Research on contract cheating usually considers most forms of outsourcing combined, although studies have found that students more commonly obtain work from those known to them, rather than from commercial sites; yet little research exists which explores which variables and motivators may be associated with this type of outsourcing. Strategies employed to reduce student interaction with essay mills are unlikely to have an impact on reducing outsourcing from friends or family. Implementation of practical responses requires knowledge unique to the different methods of outsourcing. This paper presents statistical analysis undertaken on an international research population to consider which variables were statistically able to predict university student's engagement in assignment outsourcing from either friends, family or other students. Situational factors, such as knowledge of other student's cheating, and believing cheating is acceptable, were found to have a correlation to self-reported outsourcing behaviours. Individual factors did not show statistical significance in predicting student engagement with outsourcing from those known to them.

Journal of Experiential Education, Mar 1, 2006

We conducted a pretest-posttest study using measures of higher order thinking skills (HOTS), and ... more We conducted a pretest-posttest study using measures of higher order thinking skills (HOTS), and lower order thinking skills (LOTS) in six 12th-grade American Government classrooms taught by three experienced teachers over one semester. One of the three teachers implemented a curriculum in two classes based on experiential education (EE) principles with guidance from the investigators. Students in the EE-emphasized classes demonstrated greater gains in HOTS than the students in the other four classes. There was no difference between the two groups in gains for LOTS. These results suggest that EE instruction in high school classes can promote HOTS more than traditional instruction does with no sacrifice in LOTS.

Learning Disabilities Research and Practice, Feb 1, 2003

A review of popular approaches to teaching mathematics that emphasize nonverbal skills, such as u... more A review of popular approaches to teaching mathematics that emphasize nonverbal skills, such as using manipulatives or problem-solving schema, shows that they are often not immediately applicable to some important areas of secondary algebra. However, graphic organizers in various forms have been widely suggested and researched as an intervention approach to improve reading comprehension. In this article, suggestions for modifying graphic organizers to make them more applicable to teaching higher-level mathematics concepts and procedures are proposed. Using an appropriately modified graphic organizer to teach higher-level mathematics skills may help students with relatively weak verbal skills and strong nonverbal reasoning skills to be more successful in mathematics. This subgroup of students with learning disabilities has been consistently identified in several schemes for subtyping mathematical disorders developed from empirical evidence. Excerpts of two sample scripted lessons based on this approach, one for the solving of systems of linear equations in three variables and one for the concept of negative integer exponents, are included. Yesterday, the first author received an e-mail from a former student. The note reminded us why we wanted to write this article. It wasn't the content of the note as much as the student himself that was important. For six years the first author taught secondary mathematics courses at a small private school dedicated to students with learning disabilities; this student had been in several of his classes. As a high school senior the student took an introduction to differential calculus course with Requests for reprints should be sent to Bob Ives,

Journal of Academic Ethics, May 18, 2022

Social studies research & practice, Mar 1, 2007

This study examines one social studies teacher's experience developing and implementing an Experi... more This study examines one social studies teacher's experience developing and implementing an Experiential Education-based (EE) curriculum and her reflection on the experience of putting theory and research into practice. Using a qualitative case study research strategy, we focused on the single case of the teacher's experience. We identified four categories related to the implementation of EE elements into her classes: (a) teacher's values, (b) students' values, (c) teacher directedness versus student directedness, and (d) accountability. We used the teacher's values as the central category for our discussion to explore how these values conflicted and coordinated with manifestations of the other categories. Through this study, we learned more about the importance of teachers as researchers and the value of university and school collaboration. However, the critical result was the disconnect between what is valued by the teacher and what is assessed and the need for a continued examination of this issue.

This study examined academic misconduct knowledge and motivations of first-year college students ... more This study examined academic misconduct knowledge and motivations of first-year college students enrolled in a major Western U.S. public university. Data involved student responses to online prompts. Several findings emerged. First, students started college with gaps in knowledge on citations/references, test/assignment cheating, and the nature of academic integrity, despite higher education institutions' (HEIs) elevated scrutiny on students adhering to academic conventions and ethics. Second, the great majority of students cited extrinsic motivations with going to college. Results speak to the relevancy of HEI programs that explicitly instructs new students in academic misconduct topics (e.g., definitions, procedures, and consequences). And results suggest that such programs might yield more efficient lasting lessons by stressing the tangible instrumental costs of academic misconduct (e.g. financial costs, work prospects, and social disapproval).

Journal of Contemporary European Studies, Feb 12, 2016

Abstract Allport’s intergroup contact theory has been used to explain how contact between members... more Abstract Allport’s intergroup contact theory has been used to explain how contact between members of different groups influences the level of acceptance that members of those groups hold towards members of other groups, and to guide the design of programs to increase tolerance. In this study, we examined intergroup contact and social distance data provided by ethnic Hungarians and ethnic Romanians in Romania with respect to each other and the Roma (Gypsy) minority. Hungarians and Romanians reported more contact with members of each other’s groups than with Roma. Hungarians and Romanians also reported greater social distance from Roma than from each other’s groups. These results are interpreted in terms of intergroup contact theory, with recommendations for increasing tolerance towards the Roma.

International Journal of Education, May 16, 2010

A variation of the Bogardus scale on social distance was implemented to examine the cultural atti... more A variation of the Bogardus scale on social distance was implemented to examine the cultural attitudes of Romanian youth about minorities in Romania. The results indicated that the greatest social distance was reported towards members of the Rroma minority with members of the Hungarian minority following. The least social distance was, not surprisingly, associated with members of the Romanian majority. The findings of this study are examined in light of their implications for teacher education, in the continuously changing sociopolitical landscape of Romania.