Matrix analysis requires special calculations that standard statistical packages do not offer. MatMan, especially developed to analyze sociometric matrices by scholars at the University of Utrecht, The Netherlands, performs various statistical tests and includes numerous useful data processing options.

• Run specialized tests and calculations for matrices that other packages cannot handle.
• Analyze social interactions.
• Study dominance in groups.
• Use the analytical power of MatMan on data from The Observer^® XT.
• Analyze transition matrices from The Observer XT’s lag sequential analysis.

MatMan is especially useful for analyzing group behavior. It allows you to analyze interactions and hierarchies in social networks. MatMan calculations can be based on statistics from The Observer XT or on manually recorded data. Other types of matrices suitable for MatMan are transition matrices from The Observer XT’s lag sequential analysis. MatMan can be included in any of the solutions described on this website. It can also be used as a stand-alone package.

Features
A sociometric matrix or transition matrix can be the output of analysis in The Observer XT. In most research projects more analysis is needed in order to draw conclusions. Ultimately, it is a collection of descriptive statistics. MatMan allows you to explore, process, and test your matrices in various ways.

A major function of MatMan is the possibility to calculate and test linear hierarchies. This is useful to assess the hierarchical position of each individual in a group by criteria such as the number and direction of aggressive or empathic interactions and social initiatives. MatMan  provides various indices for dominance matrix linearity, which can be interpreted as a measure of stability. The input matrices can be produced with The Observer XT. You can also use MatMan to investigate the relationship between different types of interactions by calculating the correlation between matrices.  The same set of functions as mentioned above allows you to compare lag sequential analysis results obtained with The Observer XT.

Finally, you can use MatMan to calculate the statistical significance of the figures in the matrix. This tells you if individuals interact more or less than expected, based on the distribution of figures in the entire matrix.

The core functions of MatMan are augmented by specialized data processing options. They allow you to calculate summary matrices of various types of behaviors, run unidirectional tests, eliminate outliers, transform interaction matrices into dominance matrices, and more. This is very useful since interactions can be measured by a variety of criteria that may or may not correlate. Some you may want to add, some subtract, and sometimes you may want to transform parts of your data in various ways. All of this is supported by MatMan. The software is implemented as a plug-in for Microsoft Excel which means that all Excel functionality is available in MatMan.