CircStat: AMATLABToolbox for Circular Statistics

Concepts

Natural SciencesBiostatisticsSpatial StatisticsStatistical ComputingStatisticsComputational StatisticsDescriptive StatisticsInferential StatisticsDirectional Data AnalysisDirectional Statistics

TL;DR

Directional data are ubiquitous across scientific fields, yet their circular nature precludes analysis with conventional statistical techniques, and few user‑friendly software tools exist, especially in MATLAB, which currently lacks support for directional statistics. To address this gap, the authors developed the CircStat toolbox for MATLAB, offering descriptive and inferential methods for directional data analysis. The toolbox includes a review of the underlying statistical theory and practical guidance on applying these methods to data. Application to a neurophysiology dataset demonstrates the toolbox’s capabilities.

Abstract

Directional data is ubiquitious in science. Due to its circular nature such data cannot be analyzed with commonly used statistical techniques. Despite the rapid development of specialized methods for directional statistics over the last fifty years, there is only little software available that makes such methods easy to use for practioners. Most importantly, one of the most commonly used programming languages in biosciences, MATLAB, is currently not supporting directional statistics. To remedy this situation, we have implemented the CircStat toolbox for MATLAB which provides methods for the descriptive and inferential statistical analysis of directional data. We cover the statistical background of the available methods and describe how to apply them to data. Finally, we analyze a dataset from neurophysiology to demonstrate the capabilities of the CircStat toolbox.