Perigo, Anita (2010) An Exploration of How Responsibility Influences Career Learning After a Chance Event: A Qualitative Study. Honours thesis, University of Southern Queensland. (Unpublished)
Abstract
Do the responsibilities held by adults influence their career learning? For Happenstance Learning Theory (Krumboltz, 2009) to be used as a counselling model for adults with responsibilities, it is imperative to explore how those responsibilities interact with career learning after an unplanned event. How does this impact on the adult‘s response to opportunities that are presented? The participants were selected by a criterion sampling technique from psychology students of The University of Southern Queensland. The selected participants were four women aged between 27 and 45. A qualitative study was designed to collect data via semi-structured interviews, and analysed using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Themes were identified in response to the following research questions: a) What are the themes that describe responsibilities that influence a person‘s ability to respond to a chance event?; b) What are the themes that describe how adults with a responsibility learn about career from chance events?; and, c) What are the themes that describe how responsibilities interact and influence career learning after a chance event? The identified themes describe individual experiences and cross-case experiences (found across two or more participants). A number of key results were found: a) responsibilities were disclosed which could be experienced at any age not just between the ages of 25 – 45; b) contrary to Krumboltz‘s (2009) emphasis on real world actions, self reflection was found to be a cross-case career learning theme; c) interactions were found between responsibilities and career learning which influenced the participants‘ response to career learning opportunities; and d) interactions included themes of motivation and inspiration towards career learning. An implication of this study is that it may be important for Happenstance Learning Theory counselling models to include discussion on self reflection and responsibilities. This may enable the client to maximise their real world accomplishments by planning strategies to reduce the restrictions and identify strengths created by responsibilities. Due to the exploratory nature of this study, it is important that future research add to the knowledge about the interactions between responsibilities and career learning.
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| Item Type: | Thesis (Non-Research) (Honours) |
|---|---|
| Item Status: | Live Archive |
| Additional Information: | Current UniSQ staff and students can request access to this thesis. Please email research.repository@unisq.edu.au with a subject line of SEAR thesis request and provide: Name of the thesis requested and Your name and UniSQ email address |
| Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: | Historic - Faculty of Sciences - Department of Psychology (Up to 30 Jun 2013) |
| Supervisors: | Du Pree, Jan |
| Qualification: | Bachelor of Science (Honours) (Psychology) |
| Date Deposited: | 16 Mar 2026 01:34 |
| Last Modified: | 16 Mar 2026 01:34 |
| Fields of Research (2008): | 17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 1799 Other Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 179999 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences not elsewhere classified |
| Fields of Research (2020): | 52 PSYCHOLOGY > 5299 Other psychology > 529999 Other psychology not elsewhere classified |
| URI: | https://sear.unisq.edu.au/id/eprint/52661 |
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