Chevron Left
Back to Improving your statistical inferences

Learner Reviews & Feedback for Improving your statistical inferences by Eindhoven University of Technology

4.9
stars
787 ratings

About the Course

This course aims to help you to draw better statistical inferences from empirical research. First, we will discuss how to correctly interpret p-values, effect sizes, confidence intervals, Bayes Factors, and likelihood ratios, and how these statistics answer different questions you might be interested in. Then, you will learn how to design experiments where the false positive rate is controlled, and how to decide upon the sample size for your study, for example in order to achieve high statistical power. Subsequently, you will learn how to interpret evidence in the scientific literature given widespread publication bias, for example by learning about p-curve analysis. Finally, we will talk about how to do philosophy of science, theory construction, and cumulative science, including how to perform replication studies, why and how to pre-register your experiment, and how to share your results following Open Science principles. In practical, hands on assignments, you will learn how to simulate t-tests to learn which p-values you can expect, calculate likelihood ratio's and get an introduction the binomial Bayesian statistics, and learn about the positive predictive value which expresses the probability published research findings are true. We will experience the problems with optional stopping and learn how to prevent these problems by using sequential analyses. You will calculate effect sizes, see how confidence intervals work through simulations, and practice doing a-priori power analyses. Finally, you will learn how to examine whether the null hypothesis is true using equivalence testing and Bayesian statistics, and how to pre-register a study, and share your data on the Open Science Framework. All videos now have Chinese subtitles. More than 30.000 learners have enrolled so far! If you enjoyed this course, I can recommend following it up with me new course "Improving Your Statistical Questions"...

Top reviews

MS

May 13, 2021

Eye opening course. My first introduction to some of the issues surrounding p-values as well as how to better utilize them and what they truly represent. My first introduction to effect sizes as well.

AB

Feb 23, 2020

Easy to follow, well structured, good references, empathy of presenter. I will recomend this to other friends who made Black Belt certification and still don't have clear what the Pvalue is for.

Filter by:

51 - 75 of 259 Reviews for Improving your statistical inferences

By Oliver C

Dec 17, 2017

A really important course for anyone who wishes to make statistical inferences as part of their research. I highly recommend this for people at all stages in their career - particularly for people currently planning their research. It is very well delivered and will make you question your statistical knowledge.

By Gregory L

May 2, 2017

Great course! Goes over proper statistical inference and its interpretation from multiple perspectives. The hands-on R exercises are invaluable. Don't be scared off by them - you don't really need to know R to do them. If you interpret literature from the psychological or medical fields, this is a great resource.

By Hollin V

Sep 20, 2017

Concepts are explained in an easy-to-understand way with a good use of analogies. Homework assignments are straightforward and useful. I like the way he teaches using simulations. He encourages students to play around with his simulations to discover how changes in the simulations' inputs affect the results.

By Davide B

Dec 2, 2022

This course is extremely well made. As a scientific researcher, I have found all the lectures well explained and very informative. The teacher is prepared and his communication skills are impressive. I suggest this course to everyone that has to deal with science, and the fact it is free is simply amazing.

By Matti H

Dec 13, 2016

I encourage all my friends in research to not do anything before doing this course! The pedagogical touch is different to any stats classes I've been on or stats MOOCs I've taken. After many lectures, I was just left staring at the screen, with the phrase "I must tell everyone" repeating in my head :)

By Anisha Z

Jan 6, 2018

Probably the most useful course I have ever taken. I think this is essential for anyone who does science. It provides a clear understanding of inferential statistics while discussing common pitfalls and myths surrounding p-values and confidence intervals. Assignments were very useful. Highly recommended!

By Pablo M B

Dec 5, 2019

This is one of the best courses I've ever taken. Professor Lakens has found the key points to be communicated and the key way to communicate them. He has put a lot of work here, and provides very good explanations, very useful practices, nice R scripts and other very good resources. Thank you very much!

By Kim S

Jun 13, 2017

An excellent course that provides a good introduction into the various statistical methods. I have definitely learned a lot of very useful information that I know I will use a lot in the future. I would really like to see a follow-on course on Bayesian Statistics now that I have got a taste for it!

By Emmanuel D

Apr 10, 2018

A real pleasure to take this course ! The videos are extremely pleasant to watch and give away a lot of knowledge, without ever having this feeling of getting lost ! The assignments are fair and extremely useful as well as the exams ! Will definitely recommend (and actually already have ! =P)

By Ismail B S 2

Dec 22, 2022

I Learn many things in Statistics.

It is easy to learn .

It is very nice presentation and lecture to understand the subject with examples.

It is very helpful for Student / Researcher's.

It is a great and easy learning platform in online to acquire the more knowledge in different subject.

By David M

Aug 15, 2020

I've been involved in research for years, and wish this course had existed earlier in my career. I have learned more about statistics through this course than I did in the decade I spent on the bench in research science. This course should be required for anyone working in science.

By Emma R

Jun 16, 2020

Excellent course, I highly recommend this to anyone working in research. Content is comprehensive and paced well, with modes of learning well implemented across lectures, practical work, testing, wider reading and content for extension learning. I really enjoyed this.

By George P

Jun 25, 2018

An intermediate course, which will grant new knowledge to everyone who is interested in making better inferences. It also needs a great deal of studying from external sources for all those who encounter these topics i.e. Type I error inflation, for the first time!

By Benjamin F

Aug 16, 2018

Taking this course was the best decision of the start of my grad school. It has massively improved my ability to interpret other papers and plan my own experiments, as well as changing how I view psychology/science in general. Plus Daniel is a great teacher :)

By Tiago B L

Jan 11, 2022

The best course I've ever taken on Coursera (and I've taken a dozen or more). Professor Lakens teaches with great care and attention and all the lessons are meticulously crafted, full of references and extra materials. Thank you very much for the opportunity!

By Pavol K

Aug 16, 2017

Amazing course. Definitely worth to accomplish. Highly recommended for every researcher, lecturer, PhD. student or student that is interested in prestent state of art regarding choosen important topics statistics and methodology, especially in Psychology.

By Anna S K

Mar 22, 2018

Great course with practical examples and exercises! Clearly explains typical statistical misunderstandings and provides tips for a responsible and honest scientific practice. I really enjoyed it and already recommended it to all of my colleagues.

By Ryan M

Sep 7, 2019

This course was fantastic. I believe I learned more in this class than I learned in three formal behavioral statistics courses. I highly recommend this course to other grad students, and I look forward to the next course that Lakens is creating!

By Jose P

Oct 9, 2018

A great course to learn or refresh theoretical concepts behind statistical inferences. There is also a lot of hands-on material and additional content. I think I will come back to the videos and slides when I want to refresh some concepts.

By Nic B

Jul 17, 2017

This is an excellent course for firming up statistical knowledge and replicable research practices. Likely useful for all psych/cognitive science PhD students and researchers further along who come from the frequentist training tradition.

By Laurent W

Oct 6, 2020

Very good course, with a lot of practical work, which is nice. Also very clear lectures explaining the topics and not too difficult but definitely not too easy exams! Overall fantastic course, which provided me interesting new insights.

By Tejaswini P

Aug 14, 2022

Excellent course. All the assignments and the exams were very well drafted. I got to learn Bayesian statistics and Liklihood concepts in such a lucid manner. Professor Daniel Lakens is one of the best statitics teachers I would say.

By Sarah M

May 21, 2021

Even after taking several undergraduate and graduate statistics courses, this class was a great refresher and taught me knew information! I thoroughly enjoyed it and will implement what I learned to improve my research practices.

By Tim B

Jan 5, 2017

This was a really well presented course, giving a fantastic overview of inferential statistics and always presented with a sense of humour! A number of really useful tools where introduced which I will be using again and again.

By Martine K

Jun 21, 2018

Really great course! Was already familiar in statistics, but learned a lot about making inferences based on statistical tests. Lectures and assignments are very clear. Would recommend it to everyone interested in statistics.