ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the author's processes and procedures for identifying relevant metaphors, and discusses their initial intensive manual analysis of a 92,000-word sample. The Metaphor in End-of-Life Care (MELC) project was concerned with how different groups of people talk about their experiences of cancer and the end of life. The chapter focuses on three groups in particular which refer to as 'participant groups': patients, unpaid carers for someone with cancer, and healthcare professionals. It also focuses on two broad types, or genres, of data: semi-structured interviews, and contributions to online fora and blogs. By systematically analysing the metaphors used by these three groups to talk about cancer, the end of life and end-of-life care, and gain a 'lived experience' of illness, dying and healthcare. The online forum data for carers and patients was collected from various threads of one UK-based online forum, run by a charity dedicated to cancer.
