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question stem

question stem noun: in a survey or examination, the focus or salient part of a particular question that the respondent or examinee is asked to answer, excluding any additional prompts or information provided as context; often, the opening part of a multiple choice question.

Noun

question stem (plural question stems)

  1. In a survey or examination, the focus or salient part of a particular question that the respondent or examinee is asked to answer, excluding any additional prompts or information provided as context; often, the opening part of a multiple choice question.
    • If there are multiple correct answers to a question stem, don’t try to predict all of them.2014, Shelley L. Giordano, Examination Review for Radiography, →ISBN, page 9
    • The question stem is presented in the largest font and is bolded; it is the most visually dominant element on the page help draw respondents’ attention to it. The response options and spaces are in a smaller font and indented underneath the question stem.2014, Don A. Dillman, Jolene D. Smyth, Leah Melani Christian, Internet, Phone, Mail, and Mixed-Mode Surveys: The Tailored Design Method, 4th edition, →ISBN, page 319

Forms of question stem

pluralquestion stems

Questions about question stem

What does question stem mean?
Question stem means in a survey or examination, the focus or salient part of a particular question that the respondent or examinee is asked to answer, excluding any additional prompts or information provided as context; often, the opening part of a multiple choice question.
What part of speech is question stem?
Question stem is a noun.
What is the plural of question stem?
The plural of question stem is question stems.

Words near question stem in the dictionary

  1. question of time
  2. question period
  3. question periods
  4. question sheet
  5. question sheets
  6. question stem
  7. question stems
  8. question tag
  9. question tags
  10. question the question
  11. question time

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: question stem (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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