Journal of Statistical and Econometric Methods

Disclosure of cheating by statistical methods

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• Abstract

  Statistics can be used to reveal cheating and corruption. Statistics can see what cannot be perceived with the naked eye. This article discusses the disclosure of cheating by statistics seen in relation to similar studies. The evaluation process of a semester course at a university is a data generating process. After the rules the teacher hands out questionnaires to the students at the end of a lecture and leaves the room. While seated in rows in the auditorium the students fill in the blanks. The completed questionnaires are collected in bunches for each row and then combined to one bunch, which a student brings to the secretariat. At the secretariat the questionnaires are numbered in the order they came in. The data are entered in a computer where average and standard deviation are calculated. The result is sent to the teacher along with the filled out questionnaires for his comments. The question is here: Could the teacher have filled out the questionnaires himself? If the answer is yes, this paper shows how he can be revealed.