Can you blame them? Gathering is no fun, and killing many of the lower mobs, while not as bad as gathering, is dull compared to the bosses. Don't forget that if you want to make sets of armor, you'll need to fight those bosses several times, so there's more reason to repeat those missions.
I've got a few tips to help people not die, just stuff I've picked up:
When running, if you tap the "B" Button while a monster is attacking, often you'll do a crazy high super-jump thing, and it renders you (practically?) invincible until it's over. It's a great method for last-minute dodging.
When you're not looking to attack the enemy, or just not near him, sheath your weapon. It slows you down and you can't run as effectively. There's no reason to have your weapon out if you're no where near the monster, especially if it has no charge-up style attack.
Watch out for hammer charges. The hammer weapon has a charge-up attack that's very effective at stunning monsters or giving status effects, if the weapon is right. If you see a glowing hammer user running toward a monster's head, he or she's going to try to stun it. Try not to hit hammer user, since the opportunity to get a clean hit on their head to work towards stun is rare, and the hammer is the weapon that does it best.
Don't be afraid to guard, but dodging is almost always better. If you have a weapon that can guard, use it. It's better than taking a full attack, and lances, especially, are great at not taking damage through that method.
Feel free to leave the area to heal up and sharpen your weapon. There's no reason to stick around to sharpen, especially if you've got a huge chunk of "red" health to use.
If necessary, go rest on the bed at the camp. It'll refill your life and cancel status effects. If you feel there's a chance you'll need to do this, bring some extra steak, since it probably means the battle will go on for some time.
Eat! Eat food before a tough monster, and it'll make it all a much easier fight. It's tough to tell what food will do, but there's a list available
here that you can use. Scroll down until you get to the part about ingredients to know what to use for the fight.
Try to carry around a few extra potions, whetstones, and possibly herbs or mega potions. Mega potions are easy to make, taking honey and a potion, and that's all. Just because you take them into a fight doesn't mean you have to use them, but emergencies do occur.
Eat two rations right away and be sure to drink the hot/cool drink for the area. If you don't, you'll have lower stamina than everyone else, and it'll run down quickly if the weather is too hot or cold and you don't drink.
Those are just helpful tips that should lead to a bit more success. The last thing, I'd say, is don't be afraid to just stand back and watch a monster a bit the first few times you fight. You might see things like how Qurupeco always taps his flint stones together a few times before he does the leap-forward-fire attack, or that the Royal Ludroth will raise his upper body, but no water will show before he does the side-roll attack. That can only help you know when to dodge or shield.
Anyway, I'm about to head online, probably.