# FILE NAME: 00000406.soc
# TITLE: Would it be a good idea to make the minimum wage much higher? [392467767beda8531df7f26ab0147624]
# DESCRIPTION: 
# DATA TYPE: soc
# MODIFICATION TYPE: original
# RELATES TO: 
# RELATED FILES: 
# PUBLICATION DATE: 2025-10-12
# MODIFICATION DATE: 2025-10-12
# NUMBER ALTERNATIVES: 4
# NUMBER VOTERS: 5
# NUMBER UNIQUE ORDERS: 3
# ALTERNATIVE NAME 1: Statement 1 - “I believe that the current minimum wage is far too low for people to live on, with many people being reliant on food banks and relying on other sources to get by. Raising the minimum wage would be a good thing to do, however, it should be done in smaller amounts rather than in one big jump. This would allow businesses to get used to the new wage, and wouldn’t cause any to close down. I think that if the minimum wage was increased to £10 per hour, it would be a good starting point, and then this could slowly be raised over the next few years to keep up with the ever-growing cost of living.”
# ALTERNATIVE NAME 2: Statement 2 - “I believe that the current minimum wage is far too low for people to live on, with many people being reliant on food banks and relying on other sources to get by. Raising the minimum wage would be a good thing to do, however, it should be done in smaller amounts rather than in one big jump. This would allow businesses to get used to the new wage, and wouldn’t cause any to close down. I think that if the minimum wage was increased to £10 per hour, it would be a good starting point, and then this could slowly be raised over the next few years to keep up with the ever-growing cost of living.” Conclusions In summary, although the Delphi technique can be time consuming, it can help to achieve a level of consensus on issues. The method provides a simple process to quickly and effectively derive the group consensus opinion. This is particularly useful when dealing with contentious topics. Although the Delphi method was initially developed in a particular way, it can be adapted to suit a range of needs. For example, in this study, the participants were not anonymous to each other. Also, we did not obtain an opinion from a representative sample of the population. However, it could
# ALTERNATIVE NAME 3: Statement 3 - “I believe that the current minimum wage is too low for people to live on. The current cost of living crisis makes this even more apparent. Raising the minimum wage is a good idea, however, it should be done in smaller amounts rather than in one big jump. This would allow businesses to get used to the new wage, and wouldn’t cause any to close down. I think that if the minimum wage was increased to £10 per hour, it would be a good starting point, and then this could slowly be raised over the next few years to keep up with the ever-growing cost of living. However, I think there should be a review of where the government could make cuts, so that the government isn’t spending so much money on certain things and it could be put towards something more productive such as education or helping to increase the minimum wage.”
# ALTERNATIVE NAME 4: Statement 4 - The minimum wage should be set to an amount that people can live off without relying on benefits. The government should try to raise the minimum wage in smaller increments to help businesses to cope with the increase, however, this should be done as soon as possible to help people who are struggling to get by on the current minimum wage. If businesses are unable to afford the minimum wage then they should look at their business model and reconsider whether it is appropriate for them to be operating at the current level of the minimum wage." A group of participants was tasked with coming up with a consensus opinion on an important question. Below is presented the question, the opinions of each individual participant, the first draft of a consensus statement, the critiques of the draft consensus statement by the participants, and the final consensus statement reached after much deliberation.
2: 4,3,1,2
2: 3,2,4,1
1: 3,1,4,2