Yes, you can rarely exchange one for the other and have your meaning stay the same. It is tricky to describe the difference, but this is the simplest way: One researches a subject or topic. (I am researching pharmaceutical chemistry for a paper I'm writing.) One searches a place. (I am searching my room for my keys.) One searches for an object. (I am searching for my keys.) When research is used as a noun, it is about one's research of a topic. Maybe at a University under a professor, or maybe you're doing individual research on a topic that interests you. (His research at Yale concerns behavioral psychology.) When search is used as a noun, it is about trying to find something. (There was a huge search for the missing girl, and they eventually found her.)

Research is specifically looking for information, often used in the context of academic/scientific experiments or investigations. Research tends to be a more rigorous attempt to find the answer to a question. I could "search" for an answer, but if I "research" a question it implies I am spending a lot more time and effort. (In the case of a google search, however, "research" is used sometimes: "I researched my symptoms on Google and I think I should go see a doctor") I can search for a person or an object or a building, but it does not make sense to say I am "researching" in these contexts. I hope this helps.

As research is rather more scientific, May I probably to express that with the formula?: research = search + processing (think over, normalize, customize, etc)