On more than one of my recent projects, funders have required research as well as evaluation. At conferences and meetings, people are talking about the differences between research and evaluation and where the tasks overlap. I found a recent blog and some classic materials that might be useful when the question arises in your work. On BetterEvaluation, Patricia Rogers discusses several ways to distinguish between research and evaluation. If you really want to dig deep, check out Levin-Rozalis' academic article: I couldn't stop turning the pages.