Relational Databases for Behavior Science

Data collection and analysis are central to scientific research, including in applied and basic behavior analysis. A substantial amount of attention has been given to how to rigorously collect and analyze data. Less attention has been paid to storing and maintaining research data, which becomes a critical step in the data analysis pipeline as the complexity and amount of data increase. Relational databases provide an efficient, reliable, and flexible method to store, maintain, and explore behavioral research data. The current article argues for the utility of relational databases in behavioral research, presents a brief introduction to relational databases, and uses some real-world examples to illustrate how relational databases have been used by the author and colleagues. Adopting relational databases to store and maintain research data would improve data integrity, facilitate data sharing between researchers, and contribute to transparency and reproducibility of analyses.