Cheating has become more prevalent in modern US society than ever before. Studies show that anywhere from 40-70 percent of partners cheat on their significant other in a relationship.
Take a moment to reflect on the verb “cheating.” What does it make you think of? How would you describe the act of “cheating” to another person?
On March 22, 2017, I created an anonymous survey on Qualtrics, simply entitled “Cheating.” I shared this survey on several social media platforms, and received a total of 24 responses. Of those 24, the majority of participants were straight, white young adults.
The instructions for the survey were as follows:
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Answer each question without the use of search engines.
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Answer each question honestly.
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If you do not feel comfortable answering a question, leave it blank.
When asked to define “cheating” six participants described romantic cheating, four participants described academic cheating, and 12 participants described both types of cheating, leaving two participants who replied with no response. To me, this was an interesting finding. I thought that the majority of individuals would only describe romantic cheating, seeing that romantic cheating has become “the norm” of our society.
The questions following were split into 3 categories: Academic Cheating, Romantic Cheating, and Basic Information.
Academic Cheating
When asked if the individuals have ever cheated on a test, surprisingly 13 said yes, six said no, and two said they don’t recall, leaving three participants with no responses. When seeing the academic results, I began to wonder if the “cheating norm” doesn’t only apply to romantic relationships.
Romantic Cheating
When asked if the individuals have ever cheated on a partner, eight said they have while nine said they have not. Though seven individuals did not answer this question, nearly half of participants said they have cheated.
Included with that question was a follow up: “If you have cheated before, how likely are you to cheat again?” This question was set up on a 1-10 scale, 1 meaning never again, and 10 meaning absolutely doing it again.
Of the 8 participants who have cheated, five said “1” meaning they wouldn’t cheat again, one said “6” which roughly equates to potentially cheating again, and one other said “10”, meaning they plan on cheating again in the future.
Since my social media accounts are followed by mostly college students, it’s not clear whether this 10 actually meant they plan on cheating again, or whether someone is simply messing with the results. Either way, the results are much different than I anticipated them to be. The majority of participants who have cheated stated that they would never cheat again.
Though 24 isn’t by any means a large sample size, I still obtained some very interesting results. Is “The Cheating Norm” truly a thing?
In the near future, I would like to expand this survey. I would like to aquire results from all 50 US states, and not just Ohio. I would like a more diverse group of individuals, ranging in sexual orientation, ethnicity, race, level of education, age, etc.
Maybe after collecting more data, I will be able to answer the question, “Is The Cheating Norm real?”