Suppose I have a sheaf $\mathcal{F}$ on the (small) étale site over $X$. By restriction, $\mathcal{F}$ is also a sheaf on $X$ (with the Zariski topology). When is it that the sheaf cohomologies (i.e. derived functors of the global section functors) agree in these two sites?

For example, in SGA 4 (Chapter VII, p355), Grothendieck proves that the above cohomologies agree for quasicoherent sheaves. I do not really understand the proof however, and would appreciate any elaboration on this. It uses the Leray spectral sequence, and it seems that the key ingredient is that the higher direct images $R^q f_*(\mathcal{F})$ are $0$, where $f_*$ is the direct image functor induced by the inclusion of the Zariski site in the étale one).  
**Question:** Are there any precise conditions on $\mathcal{F}$ that guarantee that the two cohomologies agree? Does the above condition on $R^q f_*(\mathcal{F})$ suffice, and if so, when does it hold?

Maybe an easier question would be obtained by instead starting with a sheaf $\mathcal{G}$ on $X$ (with the Zariski topology).   
*Subquestion:* Under what conditions can you extend $\mathcal{G}$ to a sheaf on the (small) étale site? (I'm thinking about extending by inverse image, i.e. for an étale $f \colon U \to X$, setting $\mathcal{G}(U) =f^*(\mathcal{G})(U)$, but maybe there are other possibilities)  
**(Possibly) Easier question:** Supposing that $\mathcal{G}$ extends, are there any precise conditions on $\mathcal{G}$ that guarantee that the Zariski cohomology and the étale cohomology of $\mathcal{G}$ agree?

Here again I have in mind the case of quasicoherent sheaves, where everything works out without problem.

(Of course, I have specialised this question to a particular example of sites/toposes, ie Zariski and étale. If you know how this works in more general cases, please share that too!)