Because they are written by and for scholars, peer-reviewed articles are often challenging to read. Try approaching the parts of the article in this order:
If you plan to discuss a source in detail, read the complete article from beginning to end.
Qualitative research studies collect descriptive data (mostly words). They use methods such as interviews, focus groups, content analysis, and observation. Surveys with open-ended questions could be used for qualitative research.
Quantitative research methods collect numerical data and use statistics to analyze that data. Experiments, analyses that look for relationships between sets of numerical data, and surveys with limited, pre-determined responses are examples of methods that could be used for quantitative research.
Mixed-methods studies combine both kinds of research methods to gather both qualitative and quantitative data.