Should they be written third or first person?
Its in the social sciences so i usually use third person but am getting conflicting views from the department.
Opinions please xx

I've just done a littel research and i think it should be written in the third person. For example:

Use reporting verbs and phrases (eg; The author describes…, Smith argues that …).

Hope it helps. However, find out from your department or supervisor what style is required or recommended

Cheers, do you think it acceptable to use 'I' in the intro when stating your intentions or to remain anonomous throughout?
My 3 supervisors cannot agree and despite asking for clarification have not got back to me...grrrr...too many cooks and all that!!!!

I know :), I would stick to using the third person. In that instance, not using 'I' but maybe stating that 'in your own opinion or view'

Without wanting to sounds like a knob, i think it depends on your epsitemology. For example, i will be using the first person throughout my PhD, because I'm coming from a constructionist perspective and am therefore critical of any attempt to imply objectivity and distance by using the third person, as i don't think its possible.
But from a positivist perspective, objectivity is the aim of science, so i guess a third person should be more appropriate...?

Well, i'm in Engineering and we always use the third person in reports. It might be different in other fields, so i think you're in order

Cheers Cryogenics...it would be wise to err on the side of caution and continue with the third person (see look I'm getting into it already.....I'm reminded of the auditors in Pratchetts discworld novels that explode if they refer to I!!!)Wish I was in a nice clearcut school rather than the wishy washy messiness of the social sciences...
Zelda...I know exactly where you are coming from...I'm from the postmodern/post structuralist ilk and my methodology is qual so thats how I feel I should be...however my supervisors are firm positivists so we are already clashing (their argument is how can I base my thesis on something I can't prove exists...well duh thats the postmodern point for me!!!)

I've only used first person when reporting on practioner research (education)

lol. Glad to know you're getting into it. Surprising though how they couldn't come to an agreement on how it sould be written earlier

Hey dazednconfused (great film, btw) - i think youre dead right about using 'I' - your supervisors' point is inconsistent with your epistemology, so it might be worth arguing your ground - loads of thesis's which use the first person get accepted.

I'm dead lucky, in that all my supervisors are 'pomos' - i was originally a positivist when i started, and they've complete turned me to the dark side! So they're always on about my thesis structure (as well as it's methods & presentation) being consistent with the underlying epistemology. Otherwise i imagine the inconsistency would get picked up on in the viva.