Helping versus cheating: A rose by any other name is still a rose?

Abstract

There are few empirical studies dealing with the implications of choosing one word over another in the development of a questionnaire. A study of academic honesty was used to verify if the use of the word helping (ajuda) instead of cheating (cola) would make a difference in terms of response frequency and content among secondary school students. Some 540 students of private and public schools in Brasília, Brazil, between the age of 15 and 19, 53% female, answered two forms of the same questionnaire. The only difference between the questionnaires was the use of help versus cheat in the 14 items about this behavior during exams. Individual analyses of the 14 items indicated little difference between the behaviors during exams. However, significant differences were found in terms of the frequency with which items were left blank, observed more among items using the word “cheating”. The few individual difference may be explained in terms of metaphoric understanding of the questions. The higher incidence of items left blank in one of the forms of the instrument reinforces the need for special attention when formulating questionnaire items.