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QUESTION-SETTING GUIDELINES |
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Usually every team will have to set the questions for two of the weeks on which they have a bye. Most teams will also |
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also have to produce a question paper for a round of the knockout competitions. A question-setting rota is published on |
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the league website at the start of the season and each team must identify the weeks for which they will be responsible |
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for setting the questions. Teams are advised to prepare their questions well in advance of the quiz, as last-minute |
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setting is likely to result in poor questions. To aid legibility please use a font size of10 or greater. To help the person |
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reading out the questions (QM) it is advisable to include a phonetic guide to the pronunciation of any ‘tricky’ or unusual |
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words. Questions must be printed, not handwritten, and the answer must be clearly separated from the question, |
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ideally by putting the answer on a separate line, as set out in the (Microsoft Word format) question paper templates that |
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may be downloaded below. Setters are strongly encouraged to use these, to reduce the amount of time spent by our |
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question checkers on transcribing and re-formatting questions to make them ready for publication on the website. |
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Question setters are responsible for delivering a question paper to each venue hosting a match that week. Immediately |
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after the quiz has taken place, the setters should submit a copy of their questions for publication on the league website. |
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Click here to send an email to our question checkers, Greg Spiller and Alice Walker. |
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Format for league matches |
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The quiz consists of four rounds: |
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Rounds 2 and 4 may contain a theme/connection - see ‘Connections/Themed rounds’ below. The paper should also |
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include at least five (non-paired) spare questions. |
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Format for knockout matches |
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The format is essentially the same as for league matches, with one major difference: teams choose the verbally |
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answered questions randomly by ‘picking a number’ (between 1 and 30 in round 1, and between 41 and 70 in round 3), |
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so there is no need to pair the questions in these two rounds. Games can’t end in a draw, so please include a third, |
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ten-question written round (for use as a tie- breaker) and also a ‘nearest-the-bull’ tie-breaker, e.g. As of 20 September |
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2023 what is the maximum seating capacity of the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester? (Answer: 2371, including 16 |
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wheelchair spaces). The tie-breaker shouldn’t be too obscure and should allow teams to have a ‘reasonable stab’ |
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at the answer, rather than being a wild guess. |
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Note: a draw is a perfectly acceptable result in knockout qualifying group games, so a third written round and tie- |
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breakers are NOT required. |
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Accuracy |
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Check that the given answer is correct and is the one and only possible correct answer to the question. For example, |
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‘What is the collective noun for giraffes?’ has at least ten equally-correct answers (tower, corps, herd, group, stretch, |
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troop, group, kindergarten, journey and totter). Ask team-mates to read the questions, checking answers and spelling. |
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Errors can be found in any book or website (however reputable), so never write a question using information from a |
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single source. Many websites contain downloadable questions; tempting though it may be, don’t plagiarise these. Not |
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only do they often contain mistakes, but it can give anyone who happens to have read the same questions a huge |
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advantage. Facts can change between the writing and asking of a question: records can be broken, people can change |
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jobs, a country may adopt a new currency etc., so where appropriate qualify the question with a date, e.g. ‘As at |
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1 November 2025, who is the UK Foreign Secretary?’ 1 |
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Pairing |
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In league matches the verbally-answered questions (rounds 1 and 3) should be paired: for each question a team is |
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asked, their opponents should be asked a question on the same subject and of SIMILAR difficulty. Ensure that |
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pairings are correct: for each pair one question should be odd- numbered, the other even. Don’t be too ‘obvious’ with |
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pairings as this can give an unfair advantage to the team getting the second of a pair, allowing them to ‘predict’ the |
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question they will receive (and to start thinking about the answer well in advance). For example, if you ask ‘What was |
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Eric Morecambe’s real surname?’ do not ask the other team for Ernie Wise’s real surname 2. Pairs should be of |
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similar difficulty: if you ask one team for the capital of France don’t ask their opponents for the capital of Kiribati 3. |
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Check whether pairs are equally difficult by ‘testing’ your questions on other members of your team. Questions of equal |
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difficulty in the opinion of the question-setter may be unbalanced to others. |
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Content |
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Remember that there is a vast range of subjects on which to ask questions. League members have many different |
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interests and are not (quite) exclusively male and over forty. To get as broad a range of subjects as possible ask |
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several team members to contribute questions. Don’t make the questions too hard: this is the Stockport Quiz League, |
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not University Challenge, and is supposed to be a fun night out! All teams should be able to answer at least half of the |
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questions correctly, so aggregate scores should never be lower than 80 and no team should score under 40. An |
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aggregate score for a paper in the range 100–130 is indicative of a ‘decent’ quiz. Avoid lots of questions on obscure |
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subjects: questions should fall largely under the category of general, not specialised, knowledge. Try to avoid a ‘never |
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heard of him/her/it’ response once the answer is revealed. Similarly don’t make the questions too easy. |
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Ambiguity |
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The wording of a question should make it absolutely clear as to the answer required. For example: ‘Who was the first |
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US President born in the 20th century?’ probably means ‘Who was the first man to be US President and have been |
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born in the 20th century?’ (John F. Kennedy, b. 1917), but it could mean ‘Who was the first man born in the 20th |
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century who went on to become US President?’ (Lyndon B. Johnson, b. 1908). The required answer must be concise: |
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teams should be able to answer in a few words at most. Don’t set questions that require long-winded/complicated |
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answers, as these often place an unfair burden on the QM, who may have to decide whether a given answer is ‘correct |
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enough’. Likewise, avoid questions beginning ‘What is the difference between...?’ or ‘Why...?’. If you require a specific |
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answer (e.g. ‘tenor saxophone’ rather than just ‘saxophone’) then make this clear in the question. Unless otherwise |
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specified, teams need only give the surname to answer correctly when asked for the name of a person. If there is more |
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than one feasible answer with the same surname—there have been several composers called Strauss—specify in the |
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question that a first name is also required. |
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Multiple answers |
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Teams have thirty seconds to answer, so it’s unreasonable to ask for a multiple answer such as the last five Presidents |
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of France 4. It also makes it comparatively easy for a team’s opponents to identify and correct any mistake(s) in the |
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given answer. If you want to ask a multi-answer question, do so as an early question in one of the written rounds, so |
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that teams have a suitable amount of time to come up with a full answer. |
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Connections/Themed rounds |
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These may be used in either, both or neither of the two written rounds, entirely at the discretion of the question-setters. |
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Where a theme is used, it must be clearly marked on the question paper that there is a connection/theme. Do not |
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make question ten: ‘What is the connection between the previous nine answers?’. If using a connection that relates to |
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the first letter(s) of each answer, bear in mind that teams may answer a question requiring the name of a person by |
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giving only the surname. |
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Parochial Questions |
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This is the Stockport & District Quiz League. Not every team has an intimate knowledge of Stockport town centre or |
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Stockport County F.C., so parochial questions should be avoided or used sparingly. |
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Novelty/guesswork/trick Questions |
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Do not use questions such as ‘How high is the Eiffel Tower?’ (320.75 ± 0.15 metres, depending on the temperature) or |
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or ‘How many teeth does a mosquito have?’ (they don’t have teeth). Whilst perhaps fun to ask, questions like this are |
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not fun to answer, and often have answers that are debatable or based on ‘urban myth’. Any true/false or either/or |
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questions must only be used in one of the written rounds. |
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Oscars |
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Be careful when setting questions on Academy Award winners. Confusion often arises from the discrepancy between |
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the year a film is released and the year in which it receives an Oscar. Films usually receive awards in the |
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February/March of the year after that for which the award is given. For example, The Godfather won the 1972 Oscar |
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for Best Picture, but as it received the award at the ceremony in March 1973 many sources refer to it (incorrectly) as the |
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winner of the 1973 Oscar. This sort of ambiguity is easily avoided by including additional information such as the name |
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of an actor, director or film. For example, instead of asking ‘Who won the 1973 Best Actress Oscar?’ ask ‘Who won the |
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1973 Best Actress Oscar for her performance in A of Touch Class?’ 5. |
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Biological taxonomy |
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Be careful when asking questions of the type ‘To which plant family does...belong?’. In biological taxonomy ‘family’ has |
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a specific meaning somewhat different to its everyday use. For example, garlic is often said to be a member of the lily |
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family. It isn’t. Its biological family is Alliaceae, which is in the same class of plants (Liliopsida) as the Liliaceae family, |
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which contains true lilies. |
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Locations |
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When asking a question with a location as its answer, state clearly how specific the answer should be. For example, |
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'Wembley Stadium', 'London' and 'England' are all valid answers to the question ‘Where was the1966 Football World |
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Cup Final played?’. Rather than using 'where' it is better to ask ‘In which country/city/building...?'. Similarly, be careful |
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to specify the sort of answer required when asking questions about the four home countries of the UK: 'Wales', 'UK’ and |
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‘Great Britain' are all equally-correct answers to the question ‘In which country was actor Timothy Dalton born?’. |
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Final checklist |
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Before printing and delivering your questions check that they contain: |
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Ensure the question numbering and pairing (when required) are correct. For ‘normal’ league games each question in |
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rounds 1 and 3 should have a corresponding, equally-difficult ‘pair’ on the same subject (one question should have an |
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odd number, the other an even number). For inter-divisional games, questions in rounds 1 and 3 should not be paired, |
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but should be carefully distributed to ensure a fair spread of question subjects and difficulty. Question papers should |
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be checked for errors by a third party. Be absolutely certain that every answer is correct and is the only acceptable |
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answer. Questions should cover a wide range of subjects to suit players of all ages, genders, interests and abilities. |
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Asking questions |
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The home team must provide someone to read out the questions. If the home team has six or fewer players (including |
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the QM) and the away team has seven or more, it’s the ‘done thing’ for the away team to offer to provide a QM, |
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although this isn’t compulsory. |
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Answers to questions |
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1 David Lammy. |
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2 Bartholomew and Wiseman respectively. |
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3 Paris(!) and South Tarawa. |
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4 Macron, Hollande, Sarkozy, Chirac, Mitterrand. |
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5 Glenda Jackson. |
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