Understandability and Transparency of the Financial Statements of ...

the elements of the world, or rather what exists, and secondly, the „nature of their
existence‟.
Existence is at the heart of the nature of „being‟, i.e. reality. The naturalistic view is that
there are multiple realities: this contrasts with the positivist view who consider that
there is only one reality (Lincoln & Guba, 1985, p. 37). Lincoln & Guba (1985, p. 82)
also felt that philosophers would consider „reality‟ at any one of four levels: (1)
objective; (2) perceived; (3) constructed; and (4) created.
This essence of multiple realities is at the heart of this research, where the charities
sector has many facets or realities existing within it, i.e. different individual experiences
and beliefs. Objective or hypothetical reality considers that there is one tangible reality
(Lincoln & Guba, 1985). The diversity in charities for similar causes suggests that there
is diversity throughout the charities sector, meaning that a single reality appears
unlikely and that objective reality is not a good fit for this study.
Perceived reality considers that there is a reality that one cannot fully determine but can
be appreciated from particular vantage points, which can be called perceptions (Lincoln
& Guba, 1985). Lincoln & Guba (1985, p. 83) defined a perception as “a partial,
incomplete view of something that is nevertheless real and capable of different
interpretation when seen from different viewpoints”. This appears relevant for this
research, with the charities sector so complex and diverse that people cannot know all of
reality at any point in time but an individual could consider a partial picture, i.e.
perception, of this reality.
Constructed reality and created reality question whether reality really exists (Prescott,
2009). These realities deny that individuals have a belief system which sits outside the
charities sector. This is contrary to the reason for many people‟s involvement in
charities is because of their belief system which sits outside of the charities sector, e.g.
their religious belief or other altruistic beliefs (Andreoni, 1990). Thus, these are not
applicable to this research.
4.3.2 Axiom 2 - The relationship of knower to known
Axiom 2 considers that the knower and the known are both interactive and inseparable
as opposed to the positivist‟s belief in independence between the knower and known
(Lincoln & Guba, 1985, p. 37).
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