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Back to Bayesian Statistics: From Concept to Data Analysis

Learner Reviews & Feedback for Bayesian Statistics: From Concept to Data Analysis by University of California, Santa Cruz

4.6
stars
3,124 ratings

About the Course

This course introduces the Bayesian approach to statistics, starting with the concept of probability and moving to the analysis of data. We will learn about the philosophy of the Bayesian approach as well as how to implement it for common types of data. We will compare the Bayesian approach to the more commonly-taught Frequentist approach, and see some of the benefits of the Bayesian approach. In particular, the Bayesian approach allows for better accounting of uncertainty, results that have more intuitive and interpretable meaning, and more explicit statements of assumptions. This course combines lecture videos, computer demonstrations, readings, exercises, and discussion boards to create an active learning experience. For computing, you have the choice of using Microsoft Excel or the open-source, freely available statistical package R, with equivalent content for both options. The lectures provide some of the basic mathematical development as well as explanations of philosophy and interpretation. Completion of this course will give you an understanding of the concepts of the Bayesian approach, understanding the key differences between Bayesian and Frequentist approaches, and the ability to do basic data analyses....

Top reviews

GS

Aug 31, 2017

Good intro to Bayesian Statistics. Covers the basic concepts. Workload is reasonable and quizzes/exercises are helpful. Could include more exercises and additional backgroung/future reading materials.

JB

Oct 16, 2020

An excellent course with some good hands on exercises in both R and excel. Not for the faint of heart mathematically speaking, assumes a competent understanding of statistics and probability going in

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576 - 600 of 813 Reviews for Bayesian Statistics: From Concept to Data Analysis

By PS

Mar 19, 2021

Good refresher course. Like a number of Coursera courses, it moves from basics through to more advanced topics quite quickly at times and necessarily skips over some of the more tedious but important distributional derivations. Would like to have seen more practical examples of Bayesian regression and its applications

By Florian M

Mar 2, 2018

Herbert Lee is great at explaining the mathematics behind Bayesian statistics. However, I think the course can improve greatly by also focusing more on context and the intuition behind the mathematics. I often found that I was able to pass all quizzes, while I did not 100% understand why I was doing what I was doing.

By JAY C

Jun 12, 2020

Great discussion into the ideas. The quizzes are relevant to the lectures as well and pretty straightforward, you don't need to go outside of the lecture itself to be able to do the quizzes. the only thing would be it would be good if the lectures notes were in print as Prof. Lee's writing is sometimes hard to read.

By Ali Z

Nov 22, 2016

As a grad student myself, I liked the way this course was presented in short video format and in only 4 weeks. Definitely there are much more to learn about Bayesian Statistics and one can go way deeper, but this course gives the required basic Bayesian knowledge to someone who wants to get familiar in a short time.

By Mojtaba A

Jul 11, 2022

As a person who had a rudimentary knowledge of Bayesian statistics, I found this course very helpful and I think I will come back to review different lectures on this course. But being short and concise makes it harder for individuals with no prior education to understand all materials completely.

By GR P

Jun 15, 2021

An excellent course which focused on important concepts. I dont know if I could have done it without some background in probability. I would have liked more help with last honors quiz, which was frustrating. I wonder if coursera would include tutors that could be paid by learners to help?

By Aditya D

Jul 16, 2019

The course itself is well structured and covers a lot of material.

There are points in the course where the order of reading material and videos needs to be switched. Also, it would help to update some videos with a little more explanation. It appears as if the lecturer is skipping steps.

By Marc D

Jan 26, 2019

I liked it as introduction to Baysian statistics. With the material provided it was quite easily possible to answer the questions. I would have preferred that the videos of the course contained all the material and that it would not have been required to have read through material.

By Thierry C

Sep 30, 2019

The course was well explained and there were several exercises pushing the learner to understand the logic behind the mathematical concept. I think it is a suitable class for people with already a certain level of statistics knowledge, even though all concepts are well explained.

By jose m

Apr 17, 2017

I think that, besides lesson 11 and 12, everything was very well explained. I was a bit confused with lessons 11 and 12 since I am not new to econometrics. Perhaps I found it confusing the theory background related to the lessons themselves. Just my opinion, very good course.

By Praveen K

Jun 1, 2020

The course was very well designed, I got to learn about a lot of new things in statistics that I had to understand. But for a Data Analyst working on large data sets and primarily working on ML this course is far too basic. Also, some of the concepts can be explained better.

By Rakulan S

Jul 25, 2021

Very concise and informative introduction to Bayesian statistics. Requires a fair bit of research besides just watching the course videos. But that only adds to the fun. Feel much more confident in my ability to estimate uncertainties in model parameters / predictions now.

By Łukasz F

Feb 5, 2019

I really liked the course.

What I think could be nice improvement would be more nsightful notes. Which means, that after every video, there should be a separate sheet with all the formulas being described in more detail, so that you can refer to them any time during quizes.

By Thomas J M

May 21, 2018

Overall the course is pretty good. They breakdown the concepts into clear and concise lectures. My only grip, is that the quizzes occur a little too frequently. They really interrupt the flow of the class. I would definitely prefer them spaced in 30-60 minute interval.

By Ekaterini T

Oct 31, 2018

I found the need to search for most of the material needed to understand the lessons in other sources. Other than than it was a relatively easy class, which covers nearly the basics. This is not a tutorial on Data Analysis on R, although a short introduction is provided.

By Mohd S

Nov 18, 2019

Course covers the concept in a very simple way. Examples and assignments are very good.

However some of the statements made throughout the lectures needs more explanation , the course did not dedicate any videos to get familiar with terminology related to probability.

By Luiz G S S

Apr 17, 2020

It is a really interesting course. However, I think it should include more examples and meaningful ways to estimates some parameters. For example, how can I estimate alpha and beta for an Inverse-Gamma distribution in order to obtain a prior for the sigma-squared?

By h

Jan 14, 2017

Pen hard to see against shirt. Was mildly irritating to wait for prof to write out stuff, maybe prewrite it?

Went too fast forward for me, would've liked complementary optional material, eg extra quizzes, to help understand and get used to the tougher parts.

By 玹

May 19, 2023

The course design is fine structured. However , little explanation on the concepts presented in the course, more examples or clarification needed on utilizng the formulas and the underlying ideas. The quizzes in video was much helpful for the learning .

By Paul B

Oct 8, 2020

Honestly wish there were more practice problems that I could do outside of the quizzes. Just make them optional. It's just tough to iterate on the same problems and work to figure them out. Otherwise I really enjoyed the course and found it really helpful.

By Katsu

Jul 9, 2017

Great introductions to Bayesian statistics and inference. Quiz is actually not easy just by passively viewing videos, so taking notes during lectures is strongly recommended. Do not be afraid the Honor quiz...they are not so different from the normal ones.

By Evan S

Sep 23, 2022

For me at least, it became hard to follow around module 3. The linear regression part seemed like a step backwards, as we had been touting the benefits of the Bayesian perspective, only to end up with the same results as the Frequentist perspective.

By Ahmed A T

Oct 8, 2021

the course forms a very good basis for those who want to learn the mathematics behind Bayesian statistics and it had been a lot of fun. A lot of concepts that had been vague were clarified to me during this course appreciate all effort by Prof. Lee.

By Nyx Z

Mar 20, 2022

Overall, the course is very informative and lively, helped me get in touch with the wonder of fundamental Bayesian Statistics. However, some courses in the later chapters are taught somewhat simple, so that I spent a lot of time finding reference.

By Valerio C

Apr 19, 2021

Globally a good course, although it is a bit rushed towards the end on the part that concerns Bayesian linear regression. I would probably add a fifth week to explain that in more detail, relying less on software and more on developing the maths.