Hello Tim,
Sorry it took so long to answer your question, but I was very busy with end of semester exams and also I must confess I didn't rmemeber where that information was available in Moodle 1.9 so I had to install a Moodle 1.9 website on a local machine just to be sure !
You can find what database you use by going to the homepage then in the site administration block your click on Server then Environment and the database is displayed in the database line of the table.
If you are running MySQl, something that would be worth trying would be to apply this patch
https://github.com/moodle/moodle/commit/71ec5d19df4f506ca810cd55e25ebca4c5b94962
because looking at the history this is the only change I see on the MOODLE_19_STABLE branch that could resolve your problem. But
- I am not sure it will solve your problem
- I am not even should it will not break something so better to save the mod/quiz/report/overview/report.php file before making that change !!
Giving the above adress to your tech person should be enough for her to apply the patch.
Despite what she says I still think you should upgrade because this is one of the zillions bugs that were solved since Moodle 1.9.7, and staying at Moodle 1.9.7 you are missing all the good work done by Moodle developers during several years. But all upgrade fom one branch to another one should not be carried during school time, better to do that during summer break when there are no students enrolled in courses. So not now but to be considered when you can.