A research project is any project that gives you solutions to new, not well-known problems. Research projects aren't always about advancing science. If your team deals with a new kind of business domain, or a new type of machine learning library, these are also considered to be research projects. Discovering ways to apply data science to new business domains is also research. Almost every data science project includes a research subproject that takes care of the modeling process.
The first pitfall of research projects is the absence of scope. Every research project must have a clear scope, otherwise it won't be possible to finish it. It is also important to fix any external constraints for a research project. Your research budgets will grow as the scope's size increases, so limited budgets may also affect the depth and length of research...