Developing a statistical threshold requires some null hypothesis, which very often takes Gaussian or linear form. The paper on which the method is based likely states their assumptions clearly, allowing their result to pass peer review.
Papers merely employing some method are rarely reviewed by the same peers as those of the methods papers, and often neither aware of or state the assumptions of the method.
This is how this happens, at least in neuroscience. You can look down on it and judge, but neuroscience has not really found its Kuhnian paradigm yet, so be nice.
Papers merely employing some method are rarely reviewed by the same peers as those of the methods papers, and often neither aware of or state the assumptions of the method.
This is how this happens, at least in neuroscience. You can look down on it and judge, but neuroscience has not really found its Kuhnian paradigm yet, so be nice.