Well, that does depend on “in whose field of expertise the point of contention is”. If a professional statistician says that a particular study screwed up its statistical analysis, I have little reason (ceteris paribus) to disbelieve him. That, of course, doesn’t mean the paper should go into the wastebasket, maybe it just needs a minor correction—but it’s very hard to generalize about such things.
Certainly, when statisticians start to talk about, say, biology, you should be suspicious—but no more than you should be suspicious of climate scientists talking about economics.
Well, that does depend on “in whose field of expertise the point of contention is”. If a professional statistician says that a particular study screwed up its statistical analysis, I have little reason (ceteris paribus) to disbelieve him. That, of course, doesn’t mean the paper should go into the wastebasket, maybe it just needs a minor correction—but it’s very hard to generalize about such things.
Certainly, when statisticians start to talk about, say, biology, you should be suspicious—but no more than you should be suspicious of climate scientists talking about economics.