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I am most active on the statistics stack exchange (Crossvalidated). I run into the occasional graduate level student who's in completely over their head. I feel like I can "sniff" questions as being essentially reframed homework problems for large projects or theses where they haven't any idea how to proceed. Sometimes I venture an answer because I put thought into one aspect of the work, but when it inevitably doesn't satisfy the OP, they reach out to various means with the usual request, "Hey can you just do this for me the right way? I'll pay you."

Whether they are honest or not about this being school work or other work with a plagiarism clause, is it wrong to accept pay to do it for someone else? It seems like the language around plagiarism faults the one who submits it as their own work, but I worry I may blacken my name within circles if it eventually comes about that I did the work submitted as someone else's.

AdamO
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    If you suspect people might look down on you for doing something, then there are likely people who will do so. If your brain is making you question whether something is wrong, that's probably its way of telling you you shouldn't be doing that. One's brain often has good arguments for those feelings, if you understand yourself well enough. – NotThatGuy Jul 09 '21 at 02:19

2 Answers2

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Yeah, it's wrong. A very similar scenario is a tutor doing a student's homework for them, rather than helping them learn how to do it themselves.

It's probably unlikely you'd face any punishment for doing it, but ethics apply whether consequences are present or not. There's nothing wrong with giving some guidance, but it's pretty apparent if someone is being fishy about it that they know something is wrong, and if you proceed anyway you're acting unethically.

Importantly, a statistician needs a pretty wholistic view of a project to do the work properly. If someone is being shady about the goals and only revealing partial information, you're likely to not provide them with the best approach, and their work (and possibly their field, if they get it published) will suffer for it. They should be collaborating with someone above-board, and they probably don't even need to pay for it, they just need to find someone with the quantitative skills to share authorship with. Alternatively, if it's the "homework assignment" variety, then they'll just run into the same problem again in the future when they haven't learned and statistics but need to apply them to a research project.

Bryan Krause
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    I completely agree with everything except the first sentence: It's fine to offer paid (freelance) tutoring and consulting. I do this, making clear in my contract conditions that this is above board, e.g. by insisting for thesis students that their supervisor agrees (in my experience, there are deeper problems when a grad student needs to search stats advise so badly). I also know of proposed exam fraud successfully converted into teaching the student so that they passed their exam themselves. The student may turn down my offer - but I don't turn them away. I offer them ethical conditions. – cbeleites unhappy with SX Jul 08 '21 at 18:31
  • @cbeleitesunhappywithSX OP is not talking about circumstances where things are above board. They are talking about cases where they suspect they are being asked to do someone's assignment for them, not to tutor or consult. They were pretty clear about that. – Bryan Krause Jul 08 '21 at 18:33
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    I understand that. I'm talking about trying to save such a situation by getting it back above board. I haven't met a situation where the factual problem couldn't be solved above board. Some students went away, possibly to find someone who didn't insist on doing things ethically - but at least I did what I could to try and get things back on the right track. In other cases, this worked out with the student passing their exam properly after some paid tutoring (instead of online exam fraud). (Homework doesn't play a role over here, though) – cbeleites unhappy with SX Jul 08 '21 at 18:39
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    @cbeleitesunhappywithSX Ok, but I am answering (in the first sentence) about the scenario posed. Not an alternative scenario. OP asked whether doing work thats going to be turned in as an assignment or represented as the students own work is okay. No, it's not. Other forms of help are okay, and OP seems clear on that too. – Bryan Krause Jul 08 '21 at 18:41
  • Rarely considered is the opposite possibility. You believe you can "sniff" homework assignments, yet you probably have no way of calibrating your "sniffer" or knowing what your sensitivity/specificity is. You refuse to help someone who needs your help but whom you believe you have positively "sniffed" as a faker. Sure, you're allowed to refuse help to whom ever you like ... but that too poses the same sort of ethical question as you raise. So your behavior will depend on how you value the 4 outcomes of helping/not helping as against "really needed the help/was cheating on an assignment" – CrimsonDark Jul 09 '21 at 04:35
  • @user02814 There isn't nearly as much an ethical obligation to help here - OP isn't their advisor or instructor or in a position where it's their job to help, they are just a volunteer or potentially a contract worker. You're not ethically obligated to take a contract just because it would help someone. – Bryan Krause Jul 09 '21 at 12:41
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Precisely as you state the issue, I agree with Bryan Krause, but there is a possible subtlety since these are grad students.

There are some situations in which research assistance for details of statistical analysis might be appropriate.

One way to sift the bad from the good is to ask the potential client whether you can ask their advisor for permission for what you are asked to do. If they are willing to make your assistance public, and the advisor agrees, then you have no issues and accepting pay or even co-authorship of some paper might be appropriate.

But, as Bryan Krause implies, if it needs to be kept private then it is certainly wrong and, ethically, you should stay away from it.

Buffy
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    The problem, and sort of the sad fault of betraying one's pedigree, is that this is a MSc student of statistics. I fully expect someone at his or her level to be able to do the assignment as it's been described. If I were dealing with a biology student and trouble applying and interpreting ANOVA I'd be much more happy to provide tutelage, but this is a whole other can of worms. – AdamO Jul 08 '21 at 16:59