Rebooting a Legend: The ICAI/McCabe Student Survey

In 1993, following the work of Bowers (1964), McCabe and Trevino conducted the most consequential survey of students’ attitudes and behaviors relating to academic misconduct. This research, which included dozens of publications (McCabe et al., 2012), had lasting effects on the field of academic integrity. McCabe’s research and advocacy led to the founding of the International Center for Academic Integrity (ICAI) and a large collection of data from students and faculty. These data, in turn, have driven institutional policy at dozens of institutions. This chapter describes the efforts by the ICAI to update and validate McCabe’s original student survey. First, we present background on the original survey. Next, the chapter discusses the vision for the revisions, including goals, an overarching strategy, and the forming of the team. The next sections report details of the revision, data collection, and analysis. Finally, reflections and recommendations for use of the survey and future research are presented.