Research Question

A detailed examination of people's comparative self-assessment reveals that they tend to believe in themselves. In most cases, people laud themselves as being the best in whatever sector they specialize in; the question is if this perception is a genuine portrayal of the skills they value highly. Individuals, on the other hand, find it difficult to hold on to certain features of society. Individuals, for example, have a negative opinion of themselves when it comes to their social lives. Against this backdrop, the study rests its research topic on social skills and community aspects. Do individuals hold themselves highly or with flattering optimism when they compare themselves socially with the other? (Deri et al. 859).

Research Hypothesis

To give the direction the paper will take, the researchers state the hypothesis towards the end of the introductory paragraph. The paper's thesis projects the article by saying how people tend to think about their social lives. The first assumption is that despite the tendencies individuals have on rating themselves highly on issues like job skills when it comes to the social aspect of life personalities tend to evaluate themselves lowly compared to the other (Deri et al.). In other words, they think that they are not productive socially compared to others regarding the number of friends they have, the social gathering they attend and dressing styles. A second assumption of the paper investigates the contribution of the biases when judging when self-judging on social issues. In the second theory, the authors assume that when individuals assess their social lives, they have a distorted portrait of reality, which results in them thinking that they fall short of what the others are enjoying in their space. The claim supports the hypothesis that is focusing on other people's lives leaves one open to potential biases.

Dependent and Independent Variables

The research incorporates both dependent and independent variables to answer the article's question conclusively. Independent variables in the study include factors that make individuals doubt their social rating in comparison with their counterparts. Independent variables in the study are factors that people assess their lives on in light of that of their friends and conclude that there is worse. The authors state that the social life of a person majorly revolves around who they know where they go for a weekend or during leisure time (Deri et al. 859). It is, therefore, these factors that influence an individual's self-rating. The independent variables, in this case, include get-together parties where people subconsciously display different personal achievements, going out with friends and family members and celebration with the family among many others.
In this study, the dependent variables include the potential outcome of the independent factors. For example, the first dependent variable premises on the biased judgment that distorts a person's portrait of self in light of evaluating ones' social life about the other person. The outcome of the distorted thinking depends on social gatherings and other mentioned independent factors. An individual's attention is the next dependent variable as it is drawn to some social events that influence a person's perception of their lives. For instance, the attitude changes once you are exposed to active members of your community through media like Facebook, Twitter, and other social sites.

Research Methods

The research incorporated both qualitative and quantitative research methods. From the assessment of the paper, the authors are concerned with the human behaviors about self-rating socially and the rationale behind such. To understand the reason behind the action, the researchers apply to interview for the focus group with the intention of an in-depth assessment of the concern. The researchers also interact with the targeted group for keen analysis of the how people feel or rate themselves. Too important to note is that the authors collected response of the targeted population through interacting with the targeted people in the supermarket a form of qualitative data gathering.
For exclusive right view the authors use quantitative data as the number of people interviewed is large. Observation of a close to three hundred people's take on their social behavior is not an easy job and calls for interview or survey. The authors determined their sample and the design used in sampling for both the first and second review. Also important to note is the use of secondary data to support the claim that people tend to have a low opinion on social issues among themselves in the literature review part.

Limitations of the Article

The first limitation of the survey is that it posted a closed question to the targeted population. The outcome would have been different had the matter been open. For example, asking respondents to give their opinion on their social lives compared to those close to them as opposed to limiting the population to past social events they have attended. A second limitation is that the authors did not consider the difference in income of the sampled population. Inconsistency in income plays a vital role in determining ones' social opinion compared to their peers. For instance, a person who takes home 200,000 dollars annually will have an excellent social life compared to someone who earns 100,000 dollars annually. Finally, the authors should also have categorized the respondents depending on the area they reside in; asking someone from the deprived neighborhood who might compare self with a counterpart from affluent areas, to give their opinion on social life might distort the outcome.
An apparent strength of the study is that it incorporates all the members of the society. The Whites, Blacks, and Latinos all got the chance to give an opinion on the topic in a representative ratio hence the outcome is valid. Finally, the five questions asked by the researchers touched on the known social aspects of life. The given five questions bordered on events that would bring the real element of the social life of a person that makes it easy to compare to the others.

Sampling, Measurement and Study Design

A few things I would adjust as far as sampling measurement and design is concerned. The best sampling method would be stratified one to get the right opinion of people without generalizing idea for the rich and the poor on their political stand. The measurement is perfect as it factors in the critical aspect of the sampled population about the social perspective of both rich and poor. Finally, on the study design, I would change from descriptive to correlational, as the former requires many resources and consume time to come up with the result conclusively. Also important to note is that correlational design is more detailed compared to the others.

Work Cited

Deri, Sebastian, et al. ""Home Alone: Why People Believe Others' Social Lives Are Richer Than Their Own."" Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, vol. 113, no. 6, Dec. 2017, pp. 858-877.