This paper explores questions of ownership of and receptivity to research-based evidence and, in combination with often competing values, their effect on collaborative evidence-informed policy making (EIPM). We propose that these issues generate a "dynamo" of push-pull factors for policy makers, researchers and research managers. Through the process of producing and managing new knowledge in collaborative EIPM efforts, these factors shape different "realities". We argue that these help to prevent, break, distort or facilitate the conceptual cycle of EIPM. The paper sets out ideas for mapping ownership, receptivity and values and their dynamic effects, drawn from actor network theory, complexity theory and the Competing Values Framework. In conclusion, it suggests that engagement with and development of policy making as a form of emergent ordering may provide ways for more effective EIPM.