Background Variables and Cheating Tendencies Among Students in Federal Colleges of Education in The North-West, Nigeria

This research is interested in establishing the incidence and magnitude of the relationship that exist among background variables of gender, course of study, marital status and cheating tendencies among students in Colleges of Education in the Northwest of Nigeria. The design employed for the study is correlational survey. The population of the study consisted of 12,060 registered NCE III for the 2023/2024 academic session in the Federal Colleges of Education in the North-west, Nigeria. Using multistage random sampling procedure which consisted of stratified random sampling, proportionate sampling and simple random sampling techniques, the study made use of one thousand two hundred (1200) students. The instruments used for the study were researchers’ developed questionnaire on Academic Cheating Behaviour and a thirty (30) item multiple choice objective test on Introduction to Guidance and Counseling. The instruments were validated by two experts from Guidance and Counselling and Psychology Departments of the Federal College of Education, Zaria. The instruments were pilot tested twice within a two-week interval in a state College of Education. The results of the two scores were subjected to Pearson Product Moment Correlation analysis which yielded 0.876 correlation coefficient. The instruments were administered to the respondents through trained research assistants. Frequency count and percentage were used in answering the research questions while Logistic Regression Analysis was used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The study found no significant relationship between gender and cheating tendency, it however found a significant relationship among course of study, marital status and cheating tendencies. Based on the findings, recommendations were made.