Bayesian Data Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences

By Prof. Himanshu Yadav | IIT Kanpur

Learners enrolled: 270

ABOUT THE COURSE:

This introductory course is designed to equip students with a conceptual understanding of Bayesian inference and its applications in behavioral data analysis and modeling. By the end of this course, students will be able to: (i) analyze data in the Bayesian framework, (ii) develop and implement Bayesian models, and (iii) evaluate computational (cognitive) models given the data.

INTENDED AUDIENCE: Data science students, Cognitive Science students, Behavioral analytics students

PREREQUISITES:
The only prerequisite is R programming. Mathematics background up to class 12 is desired.

To prepare for this course, participants can do courses like: ‘Foundations of R Software’ available on NPTEL taught by Prof. Shalabh, IIT Kanpur

INDUSTRY SUPPORT: Data Science, Behavioral Analytics, Statistical Analytics Consultancy, Pharmaceutical

Summary

Course Status :	Upcoming
Course Type :	Elective
Language for course content :	English
Duration :	12 weeks
Category :	Computer Science and Engineering Psychology
Credit Points :	3
Level :	Undergraduate/Postgraduate
Start Date :	19 Jan 2026
End Date :	10 Apr 2026
Enrollment Ends :	26 Jan 2026
Exam Registration Ends :	13 Feb 2026
Exam Date :	24 Apr 2026 IST
NCrF Level	4.5 — 8.0

Note: This exam date is subject to change based on seat availability. You can check final exam date on your hall ticket.

Page Visits

Course layout

Week 1: Probability and Random Variables I

Week 2: Probability and Random Variables II

Week 3: Bayes’ theorem, likelihood function, prior distribution, and posterior distribution

Week 4: Parameter estimation I: Analytical methods and grid approximation

Week 5: Parameter estimation II: Markov Chain Monte Carlo

Week 6: Parameter estimation III: Hamiltonian Monte Carlo and the brms package

Week 7: Bayesian regression modeling

Week 8: Model comparison I: Cross validation

Week 9: Model comparison II: Bayes factors

Week 10: Bayesian hierarchical modeling

Week 11: Bayesian modeling with Stan

Week 12: Mixture models and multinomial processing trees

Books and references

Richard McElreath. Statistical Rethinking: A Bayesian Course with Examples in R and Stan, 2nd Ed., CRC Press, 2020. https://xcelab.net/rm/statistical-rethinking/
Bruno Nicenboim, Daniel Schad, and Shravan Vasishth. An Introduction to Bayesian Data Analysis for Cognitive Science, 2022. https://vasishth.github.io/bayescogsci/
John K. Kruschke. Doing Bayesian Data Analysis, 2nd Ed., Elsevier, 2015.
Andrew Gelman and John B. Carlin. Bayesian Data Analysis, 1995.
http://www.stat.columbia.edu/~gelman/book/

Instructor bio

Prof. Himanshu Yadav

IIT Kanpur

Dr. Himanshu Yadav is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Cognitive Science at IIT Kanpur. He leads the Language Processing Lab, Kanpur. Dr. Yadav studies cognitive processes that underlie language comprehension and production in humans. He is interested in two broad questions: (1) How is language processed, represented, and acquired in the mind, and how does it involve/interact with other cognitive processes such as working memory, attention, and decision-making? (2) How does language as a complex system evolve in terms of its quantitative distribution of structural preferences? He uses Bayesian modeling, psycholinguistic experimentation, and crosslinguistic corpora analysis for his research work.

Course certificate

The course is free to enroll and learn from. But if you want a certificate, you have to register and write the proctored exam conducted by us in person at any of the designated exam centres.

The exam is optional for a fee of Rs 1000/- (Rupees one thousand only).

Date and Time of Exams: April 24, 2026 Morning session 9am to 12 noon; Afternoon Session 2pm to 5pm.

Registration url: Announcements will be made when the registration form is open for registrations.

The online registration form has to be filled and the certification exam fee needs to be paid. More details will be made available when the exam registration form is published. If there are any changes, it will be mentioned then.

Please check the form for more details on the cities where the exams will be held, the conditions you agree to when you fill the form etc.

CRITERIA TO GET A CERTIFICATE

Average assignment score = 25% of average of best 8 assignments out of the total 12 assignments given in the course.
Exam score = 75% of the proctored certification exam score out of 100

Final score = Average assignment score + Exam score

Please note that assignments encompass all types (including quizzes, programming tasks, and essay submissions) available in the specific week.

YOU WILL BE ELIGIBLE FOR A CERTIFICATE ONLY IF AVERAGE ASSIGNMENT SCORE >=10/25 AND EXAM SCORE >= 30/75. If one of the 2 criteria is not met, you will not get the certificate even if the Final score >= 40/100.

Certificate will have your name, photograph and the score in the final exam with the breakup.It will have the logos of NPTEL and IIT Kanpur .It will be e-verifiable at nptel.ac.in/noc.

Only the e-certificate will be made available. Hard copies will not be dispatched.

Once again, thanks for your interest in our online courses and certification. Happy learning.

- NPTEL team