In helping professions, writers have tried to seem objective by writing in the third person: they, it, he, she. But the impersonal pretense belies the real nature of knowledge, which we all know is socially constructed.
Of course, a social science or nursing paper should not read like The Confessions of St. Augustine. Most sentences should not start with "I."
And when I write about evidence I gained by reading, or I describe an objective fact that someone else could replicate, I use the third person:
Of these heart patients, 16 recovered;
After six minutes, the lead melted;
U. S. children with asthma use inhalers;
The emerald ash borer kills ash trees.
But when I record a fact that would differ if someone else did it, I should use the first person:
I hypothesized that...
My previous research had shown that...
This patient's mother approached me privately and said ...
In such cases, anything else is at best less accurate and at worst deceptive.
