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[size=14.0238px]Behavioral research is changing. As data analysis methods change and become more computational than before, we need to change how we work as well. Nearly gone are the days when analyses can be computed by pencil, paper, and calculator, as we now enter the age of high-level computing.
[size=14.0238px]My name is Christopher Madan, and I am currently a Psychology PhD candidate at the University of Alberta. Prior to beginning my graduate studies, I had been a freelance programmer for a number of years. When I first became involved in research I quickly found that learning MATLAB would be essential for the data analyses required for my work. Even though I had not used MATLAB before I became a researcher, I found that MATLAB was built for complex computations, and that it was an infinitely more efficient analysis environment than Microsoft Excel or IBM SPSS. While these other programs have their uses, MATLAB was to become the core environment for my analyses. Of course, this was in no small part based on what some of my supervisors and colleagues also used.
[size=14.0238px]While I found that I was able to pick up the “logic” of MATLAB quite readily, this was likely due to my prior experience in programming. On the other hand, many of my colleagues without prior programming background have struggled to initially grasp how to translate their conceptual ideas of what they want to analyze into terms that MATLAB can carry out. The aim of this book is to help teach people how to do simple analyses in MATLAB and to develop a foundation for the technical skills required to conduct behavioral research.
[size=14.0238px]In this book, I adopt a strong “learning by doing” approach, where I will present a data set and a problem, and then work with you to solve this problem. At the end of each chapter, I will then give you a set of similar problems for you to try and solve yourself, with the solutions included at the end of the book. Toward the end of the book, I will also present several new data sets and accompanying exercises, to allow you the space to explore your newly acquired skills but still provide a final touch of guidance to show you the breadth and flexibility that MATLAB can offer you. To this end, I would also suggest that, if possible, you work through this book with a friend. Everyone has his or her own learning style and competencies, and some topics that you may find challenging may come naturally to a colleague, and vice versa. Having someone to work with may make all the difference and save you a series of frustrated nights when you just needed a nudge in the right direction.
[size=14.0238px]While my own field is experimental psychology/cognitive neuroscience, I have written this book in a manner that would hopefully help researchers in any field of behavioral research. Nonetheless, this book can also be used as an introductory primer to MATLAB, without any desire to do behavioral research, and possibly even as a general introduction to the basics of programming.
[size=14.0238px]Before we begin, I would first like to thank my family as well as my colleagues at the University of Alberta and University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf for their support. I would especially like to thank Yvonne Chen for her endless encouragement and suggestions, as well as Eric Legge and Jean-François Nankoo for their feedback on an earlier draft of the book. I would also like to thank Leanna Cruikshank and Mayank Rehani, without whom I never would have realized how much this book was needed. Last but not least, I'd like to thank Jeremy Caplan for first exposing me to research, and to MATLAB.
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