New Thread for Minimum Wage
Hey guys, we do seem to be able to make a second thread, so I thought we could move the minimum wage discussions over to this one, as Andre mentioned to keep it a little less cluttered.
I think just to recap, we were talking about which direction we should move the minimum wage, and then a secondary question where we would ask what jurisdiction should be responsible for the wage increase. Is there anything we want to add on that?
One of the problems I've heard about the minimum wage is that it doesn't change with inflation, and what was once a generous minimum wage quickly becomes useless. That's actually what happened in British Columbia, where we had a high minimum wage at one point, but a decade of no increases made it worse for people and less able to support individuals. Maybe we could have a question asking either how often it should be raised, maybe something like:
How often do you believe the government (whichever they choose) should be changing the minimum wage? a) every year b) every five years c) every ten years) d) every twenty years e) never
Thoughts?
I agree with Trevor in response to the survey question regarding how often the government should revise the minimum wage. And to make the survey questions more organized, I think it is crucial for us to first ask how often the government should change the minimum wage, then we can proceed to the next question surveying the impact of raised/decreased/unchanged minimum wage as proposed by Andre. By organizing it this way, it would be easier for us to know how the trend of changing the minimum wage according to the inflation rate would affect the poverty reduction.
I think that having a question on Minimum wage is a great idea. I personally think, however, that we should try to limit questions about this aspect of poverty (the minimum wage) to just one question. While I like the idea of gathering peoples' opinions on the federal/ provincial aspect, we should perhaps try to focus our questions a bit. If we keep focus on just dealing with poverty in the lower mainland or just within BC, we'll probably find it a bit easier.
Poverty is such a broad topic and really we could go in so many interesting directions with it, but I do agree with JenniferMcGowan. I think because we are limited to five questions that we should try to keep our questions focus, concise and clear. I think there are some really great ideas and that we are on a good track. So maybe as JenniferMcGowan suggests either the Lower Mainland or BC...
I agree that we should keep our questions concise and clear, and I like Jennifer's idea of keeping our focus on dealing with poverty in one area, as federal/provincial as may be interesting but can make the question quite vague. Also, I think a question about minimum wage in relations to inflation is a great idea, and perhaps we could ask a question like "Do you agree/disagree that changes in minimum wage is necessary for reducing poverty?" a) Yes b) No
I agree with Jennifer's point in limiting our questions on minimum wage to just one question. Since we can only have 5 questions, I think we should try to cover as many aspects of poverty as possible. To add to Nicole's question, 'changes' can go in both directions. So perhaps we can ask a more direct question like "Do you agree/disagree that increases in minimum wage is necessary for reducing poverty? A) yes B) No
I think our questions should be clear and free from any subjective interpretation. I think it would be best if we avoid questions that reflect thoughts, believes, personal opinions etc...Rawan I like the question you proposed because it's simple and to the point which will hopefully produce more accurate results. If i might suggest we should also focus on a field, geographic location or when asking the question to make it more narrow. For example do you agree/disagree that increasing minimum wage is necessary for reducing poverty in British Columbia?
I'm not sure I understand exactly what you're saying here... You don't want to ask people questions that reflect thoughts or beliefs but your question example asks for people's belief/ personal opinion about the effect of minimum wage on poverty. I agree with you about adding "British Columbia" to the question to narrow the scope a bit.
I like Rawan's question personally - as Hanak mentioned, it's simple, and to the point, which is what a survey question should be.
In response to Hanak, I do like what you're doing there with your question as well, but your question is completely opinion based and you don't want that. Care to clarify?
I think Hana is trying to simplify the questions by making them purely financial and institutional. Which I think is a good strategy towards creating clearer, simpler questions.
I completely agree with Jennifer! We should focus on poverty [and homelessness] in BC and maybe just focus even on the lower mainland. And we are going to be surveying people living for the most part in Vancouver, so it will be more accurate if we ask them questions that directly pertain to them.
We are on a good roll, lets keep it going :) I agree with everyone, lets keep it to Vancouver, keeping it focused will help us focus our five questions. I also agree with having 2-3 on causes/prevention and 2 on solutions/treatments. So then does this mean that we are stepping away from the personal initial question of "How does poverty affect you and your family?" A) Greatly B)Slightly C)Not at all
I also think that Hanakhalil suggestion of "do you agree/disagree that increasing minimum wage is necessary for reducing poverty in British Columbia?" is good.
I think that DaliaElramly raised a good point in that we define poor more specifically... the question " do you mean those with lower income? or homeless?" Maybe should just focus on poverty (also low-income, government assistance) since that is the original topic? Is trying to include homelessness too much for five questions? thoughts....?
I think sashia had a good suggestion. since we all seem to just be talking on low-income/government assisted people lets just do all our five questions on that.
here is a very rough definition of poor:
poor is relating to individuals or households having an income that is below average. These individuals are without enough income to provide adequate housing for themselves and/or their families and maybe supported by the government.
please make necessary changes .... these are just suggestions on the tables!
I also agree that "Do you agree/disagree that increasing minimum wage is necessary for reducing poverty in BC?" is good and should be one of our questions. It's very focused and to the point, and allows us to ask more questions about other aspects of poverty.
As for the definition of poverty, I think the second part of what Dalia just said is good. However just 'relating to individuals having an income below average' is a little too broad in my opinion. It should be people who are homeless or cannot provide adequate essentials for them/ their family.
Hello Everyone! So I think that we should start proposing our questions as it is due tomorrow. Sometimes it gets confusing to follow everyone's replies, so maybe lets posts the questions we feel are best here at the bottom, so it is all located in one area....?