Dr. Guido Lara earned a Doctorate in Information Science from the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM) in the program, “Theory of Communication and Methods of Social Research.”
Dr. Lara studied in the Department of Sociology IV, an academic body that shares lines of research and faculty from two schools: The School of Political Science and Sociology and The School of Information Science (dedicated to the study of communication, marketing and journalism, not to be confused with IT – Information Technology Studies.)
To earn his doctorate, he had to present and defend a doctoral thesis, which had to be an original work on a subject matter related to the lines of research included in the Official Postgraduate Program. Dr. Lara’s thesis, “Dissertations of young Mexicans on Salinas’s Modernization: A Concrete Application of the Discussion Group,” was granted the summa cum laude distinction by unanimous decision.
In his thesis, he developed the foundations of the methodology and technique of Discussion Groups (now knows as Open Groups, in contrast to the well-known Focus Groups, another qualitative methodology widely used in market research and public opinion studies).
As indicated on the website of the Department of Sociology IV of the Complutense University of Madrid, this “has been being developed over the last few years in a doctoral program called “Methodology of Research in Sociology, Communication and Culture,” which has focused on the teaching of this methodology. This postgraduate program in Methodology of Research in Social Sciences, which includes a Master’s degree, offers graduates in Sociology, Political Science, Law and Administration Science, Social Work, Social Anthropology, Social Psychology, Economics, Human Geography, Pedagogy, Information Science and other similar disciplines, knowledge, methodologies and techniques that will enable them to further their education in basic and/or applied research.”
“Its area of concentration begins with epistemological reflection, addressing the fundamental problems that most directly affect social research, and delves into methodological reflection, emphasizing the problems related to the application of different research techniques.”
Source: http://pendientedemigracion.ucm.es/info/socivmyt/paginas/doctorado/teoriaymetodologia/docmetodos.htm
Departamento de Sociología IV – Facultad de Ciencias de la Información – Avenida Complutense, s/n. 28040 Madrid, Spain – Tel.: (34) 91.394.21.42/43/44. Fax: (34) 91.394.21.45