Our study used interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), a qualitative
research approach that guides research design, data collection, analysis
and writing up (Smith, Flowers, & Larkin, 2009). IPA is a relatively
new approach that originated in psychology and has been increasingly
adopted by researchers in cognate disciplines. IPA is phenomenological
in that it concerns one’s lived experience, which refers to either the everyday
flow of unconscious experience or, more commonly, a particular
experience that has major significance to an individual. In the present
research, lived experience mainly refers to the influence of parents on
their children’s career development. IPA is also hermeneutic in that it
assumes individuals’ accounts can reflect their sense-making of their
experiences, and thus researchers can access participants’ experiences
through a process of interpretative activity. Such an interpretation takes