When describing is explaining
Abstract
Explanatory theories that seek to account for social phenomena are often produced by research strategies that in no way respect the orthodox approaches called for in sociology textbooks. Many studies unfold in unplanned ways, take side paths rather than long-established trails—directions that suddenly appear useful to the researcher, who may also bifurcate along new paths and make unexpected stops. But what can be qualified unapologetically as methodological ‘bricolage’ (Mendras and Oberti, 2000) is seldom explicitly presented. This is one of the tasks that the present article undertakes: highlighting the methodological strategies and detours that made it possible to harvest the qualitative material needed to formulate a ‘grounded theory’ (Glaser and Strauss, 1967) that may account for—explain—the singular reality of recent French drug addiction treatment policy. [first paragraph]