BBC News reported that the “‘bravest’ students do not cheat” according to a study at Ohio State University in Newark. What exactly qualifies one as “brave”? I have a feeling BBC News couldn’t answer this either, given the word “bravest” in quotation marks. It’s as if I were to say, “The ‘bravest’ students excel in sports.” Does this mean then those who excel in sports do not cheat?

Apparently, researchers conducted two studies (one with 383 students and one with 73 students), measuring levels of “bravery, honesty and empathy.” Basically, they asked the subjects if they had cheated in the past 30 days and if they had intended to cheat in the future. Great study. None of the news articles about the OSU project explain the logistics behind the testing and the age of the students. For all we know, they could be middle-schoolers who would obviously lie about cheating—especially when researchers called the “moral” ones, “academic heroes.”

Results showed 47% of students tested did not intend to cheat in the future, 24% intended to cheat, and 29% were undecided (a.k.a. cheaters trying to cover face). OSU added that past studies reveal 50-80% of university students have admitted they’ve cheated before. Forty-seven percent compared to eighty percent? OSU’s statistics definitely came from pre-college adolescents.

And what’s this nonsense about measuring bravery? Unless OSU put the kids through dangerous (yet monitored) situations of life and death, I’d be wary to think that someone is heroic according to a dinky research survey.