Getting my head around 'research' ...

I'm exactly half way through my Masters course.  So far, the journey has been interesting and enjoyable.  I've enjoyed the process of reading and writing to extend my knowledge of education, in particular of gifted education.  I've also enjoyed remembering how to write academically.  The reward for my enjoyment (and hard work!) has been straight 'high distinctions'.    For each mark I received, the pressure was on to receive the same in the next unit.  However, for this fourth unit, I'm taking the pressure off myself.  Because it's hard.  Really hard.  The unit is called 'Qualitative Approaches to Research'.  The title alone scares me.  And, now that I'm four weeks into the unit, I'm even more scared.  I'm learning about words that I don't even know how to pronounce, let alone understand and use in an intelligent manner.  To make matters worse, most 'experts' don't even agree on what the words mean.  To deal with my anxiety about this unit, I'm taking the Swiss cheese approach and simply doing a little bit here and there (okay, a lot here and there).  It's taking up a lot of time.  Time that could be spent enjoying the (short) Calgarian summer.  The unit is going to challenge me enormously, but hopefully, it will help prepare me so that I can research and write a thesis next year.  For now, I need to attempt to ignore the sunshine outside and hit the books!