Just remember that most social cues (light touching on the arm, facial expressions, intonation etc.) get lost over textual channels and spell out your intentions more verbosely and explicitly.

"I don't want to just take their word since they might be wrong, but there also seems a good chance that they know something that I don't in which case I'd really like to know what it is, so let's ask why they're saying what they're saying."

... seems fine, add in if it's "on a topic that [you're] pretty ignorant about". Since you're such high status around here, be cognizant of the fact that can be intimidating and that you asking out of not-knowing (as opposed to probably having a better, differing explanation) isn't exactly on the top of the list, unless you more explicitly put it there.

Word of the comment: Explicitly