Why is scientific research evaluated?

Is it that, you are free to do anything as a scientist? Or else, you have some responsibilities. For a layman, a scientist is a crazy individual who keeps herself/himself locked in the laboratories away from a public/domestic life doing some intellectual stuff that is beyond understanding. Gone are the days when the scientific research used to be funded by the individuals themselves, or else by any other private source. However, today's fact is, most of the scientific research is supported by the public money (taxpayers money), and hence, scientists are more responsible for what they do with such funds. Moreover, it is a massive sum of money that is poured into a research project. The amount of money given for a scientific research project by a funding agency, mostly a governmental source sometimes runs in millions of dollars/crores of rupees!!!

Accordingly, it is clear why the scientific research needs to be evaluated. Primarily, everything boils down to money. If the funding is given, it needs to be accounted for. Various factors such a novelty of work/knowledge generation-basic research, accountability with the financing, further funding decisions and translational application underline why every scientific research project needs to be evaluated.