Concealed Identity Studies
Concealed Identity Studies
Concealed identity studies let you run interviews where participants can't see the moderator's name or your company's identity.
What is a Concealed Identity Study?
A concealed identity study is an interview study where the researcher's name and company are hidden from the participant across every touchpoint — from the recruitment landing page through the live video call. Instead of seeing your moderator's full name and your company's branding, participants see neutral, non-identifying information.
Why It Matters
Run unbiased competitive and brand research. Get authentic feedback when participants don't know which company is behind the study, especially useful for well-known brands or when testing competitor products.
Meet privacy and compliance obligations. Some industries, contracts, and legal teams require that moderator identities and company affiliations stay hidden from participants.
Protect your team in sensitive spaces. Researchers in fields like crypto, finance, or healthcare can run studies without exposing their personal identity to outside participants.
Run research without revealing strategic intent. Explore early-stage product ideas or sensitive topics without telegraphing which company is investigating them.
Common Use Cases
Use case | Example |
Competitive research | Testing a competitor's product without revealing your company |
Well-known brand research | Gathering candid feedback when brand recognition would bias responses |
Privacy-sensitive industries | Running interviews in crypto, healthcare, or financial services |
Legal or contractual requirements | Meeting obligations that prohibit exposing moderator emails or company names |
Strategic exploration | Investigating new market opportunities without signaling intent |
How to Set Up a Concealed Identity Study
Concealed identity is available on video call interview studies with external recruitment. You can turn it on when you create the study or any time before participants are invited.
- Create a new interview study or open an existing one.
- Go to the Plan step.
- Under recruitment, choose External candidates as your recruitment source.
- Check the box for Conceal your identity.
- Confirm your video call setup. The study will automatically use Great Question video call feature.
- Continue building your study as normal — screener, schedule, incentives, and so on.
Changing Concealed Identity on a Live Study
You can turn concealed identity on or off after a study has launched, but with caveats. The setting affects the study going forward — participants that are already mid-way through the process may have already seen branded content. Plan to enable concealed identity before sending invitations whenever possible.
Great Question video call feature
Concealed identity studies use the Great Question video call feature — Great Question's native video calling — for the interview itself. This is required, since third-party tools like Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams typically display the moderator's full name and can leak company information through meeting URLs.
What the Great Question video call feature provides
Native video calls hosted by Great Question. No external integration required, no vendor security review, and no exposed company subdomain in the call URL.
Automatic recording. Recordings start when the call begins and import directly into the participation page when the call ends.
Built-in waiting room. The host admits participants when ready, and moderators can also join the call as observers.
Concealed display names. Moderators are shown as followed; first moderator is "Moderator", second moderator is "Moderator 2" in concealed identity studies. Moderators can override the default before joining if they prefer to use their first name.
[Screenshot: The Great Question video call feature lobby showing a default "Moderator 1" name with the option to edit]
What's Different in a Concealed Identity Call
The interview session displays as "Interview with [Participant first name]" instead of including the moderator's full name and company. Inside the call, participants see only the moderator's display name — never their real email, full name, or company affiliation. Moderators receive a visible reminder in the lobby that the study is concealed and not to reveal their identity during the call.
The Participant Experience
Throughout the study, participants encounter neutral, non-identifying content in place of your team and company branding.
Recruitment emails. Emails are sent from User Interviews at this time, not from the Great Question platform. No company name is mentioned in incentive sending or redemption process.
Landing and screener pages. Company logos are removed and references to your company in the consent checkboxes and copy are replaced with generic language like "this organization."
Booking and confirmation. Participants don't see the moderator's full name, email, or company name on confirmation pages or in calendar invites. Calendar events route through a Great Question-managed sender.
The video call. Participants join through Great Question's video call feature and see only the moderator's neutral display name. The call URL contains no company identifier.
Consent. Consent checkboxes use concealed-friendly wording that omits the company name where applicable.
Best Practices
Set up concealed identity before inviting participants. Toggling it on after actions have been taken won't update content that has already been shared. If you change the setting mid-study, double-check that future content are correctly concealed.
Brief your moderators. Even with default display names and lobby reminders in place, moderators should be prepared not to mention their full name, role, or company verbally during the call.
Review your screener, custom consent copy and recruitment request title and description. While Great Question swaps in concealed-friendly defaults, custom screener questions, custom consent text you've authored, and the recruitment request title and description may still contain company references. Read through your participant-facing copy with concealment in mind before launching.
Troubleshooting Concealed Identity Studies
Issue | What's Happening | How to fix |
The "Conceal your identity" checkbox isn't showing up | The study isn't a video call interview or isn't set to external candidate recruitment. | Confirm the study is a video call interview with external recruitment selected. |
I can't pick Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams as the call provider | Concealed identity studies must use Great Question's native video calling to fully hide moderator and company identity. | Uncheck Conceal your identity if you need to use a third-party provider, or proceed with the Great Question video call feature. |
Participants are still seeing the company name somewhere | Custom copy in screener questions, consent checkboxes, or study descriptions may still reference your company. | Review all participant-facing copy in your study before launching and replace company references with neutral language. |
