
Valorisation has been an official mission of CNRS since 1982. Although research practices at the interface with the socio-economic world are nothing new, they have been facilitated since the 1990’s by a proliferation of new public policy instruments. To help them navigate this complex ecosystem, in 2017 the heads of the valorisation departments of the CNRS Institutes asked for reflective feedback on their activities, through a doctoral research. Victoria Brun began this investigation in October 2019, drawing on her expertise in sociology of science and mixed methods acquired during her postgraduate studies. This article presents several of the methodological issues of the inquiry she conducted.