Perfectionism, Attitude towards Research and Plagiarism Among research Students: Role of Research Anxiety

Abstract

The main purpose of the study was to investigate the relationship between research students’ perfectionism, attitudes towards research and plagiarism as well as research anxiety. The study also explored the role that research anxiety played in relationship between perfectionism, attitude toward research and plagiarism among research students. Additionally, the study sought to look at demographic differences in the study variables. 360 research students enrolled in three programs (BS/ MSc, MS/ MPhil, and PhD) at various institutions in Rawalpindi and Islamabad were taken. Four self-report measures were used for data collection including Attitude towards Research Scale and Research Anxiety Scale (Razai & Zamani, 2013), Attitude towards Plagiarism Questionnaire (Mavrinac et al., 2010), and Short Almost Perfect Scale (Rice et al., 2014). The hypotheses in this study included the relationship between Perfectionism, Attitude towards Research and plagiarism and Research Anxiety among research students. Research anxiety moderate the relationship between Perfectionism, Attitude towards Research and plagiarism among research students were tested. The results showed significant correlation between Perfectionism, Attitude towards Research and plagiarism and Research Anxiety. Research anxiety played a role of moderator in between the Perfectionism, Attitude towards Research and plagiarism among research students. This research study has major contributions in future research studies and research findings.