I think this is missing the point though, I've taken an upper level Statistics class, most people here with CS degrees have, but that doesn't help me understand

I think this is missing the point though, I've taken an upper level Statistics class, most people here with CS degrees have, but that doesn't help me understand whether a sociological study has a faulty component in its methodology. This is compounded by the culture of not reporting full data alongside papers, and the culture of writing papers in terse language.