Noldus - MatMan - Features


Features
Matrix manipulation MatMan offers an elaborate set of options to manipulate the structure and content of a matrix. The program adds the following options to the standard Excel functionality:
Reordering rows and columns of a matrix according to age, sex, family or any other user-defined sequence. Transposing a matrix, to enable direct comparison of matrices, like hierarchy matrices based on dominant and submissive behavior. Adding or subtracting the upper and lower triangular halves of a matrix, which results in a symmetrical matrix containing the total number of pairwise encounters. Assigning new values to matrix cells with values within a user-defined range or to specific rows or columns, to quickly create your own matrix. Assigning zeros to diagonals or triangular halves, to correct for scoring errors. Cellwise matrix addition, subtraction, multiplication and division (to lump behavioral categories or to calculate relative frequencies).
Matrix analysis
	Social dominance Researchers interested in social structure, whether they study primate colonies, a flock of birds, groups of children, people in a meeting or any other group-living species, may wish to gain insight in the dominance hierarchy of the group studied. MatMan not only allows you to determine the dominance hierarchy within the group, it also gives an assessment of the strength, as well as the statistical significance, of the linearity in the observed dominance relationships. In addition, the dominance matrix can be reordered to reflect the social structure in the observed group of individuals. The analysis computes Landau’s linearity index (h), the linearity index h’ (corrected for unknown relationships), Kendall’s coefficient of linearity (K) and a complete set of related descriptive measures.

Matrix correlation methods The matrix correlation methods in MatMan are very well suited for the investigation of associations between different types of behavioral, or other dyadic, relationships amongst the individuals of a group. For instance, correlations between kinship, rank distance, physical proximity and other relationships may be obtained. MatMan offers the Mantel test for square matrices (Z and R statistic) and rowwise matrix correlation methods for square or rectangular matrices (Zr-Test, Kr-Test, Rr-Test). The significance of correlations is assessed by means of permutational tests.

	Structure of behavior Sequences of activities, postures, movements, positions, facial expressions or any other aspect of human or animal behavior may form complex patterns in time. Examples are the acts of somebody executing a complex task, the string of behaviors following the spotting of a predator or the sequence of courtship behaviors. MatMan offers you a quick insight in the structure of behavior by analyzing the sequential structure of the ongoing behavior.
More information Download the technical specifications of MatMan 1.1