Keeping survey data private shouldn’t come at the cost of speed. In many projects, personally identifiable information sits right next to the metrics your team needs to analyze. If you lock down the entire project, work slows. If you open everything, privacy suffers. Protected Fields gives you a third option: protect only what’s sensitive, and keep the rest moving.
Don’t Lock Down Everything: Why Precision Matters in Survey Data Privacy
It’s tempting to solve privacy by restricting access to the whole dataset. But that approach blocks collaboration and creates bottlenecks. Survey data privacy works best when it’s precise, when you can protect just the fields that truly need it and leave everything else accessible for analysis and reporting.
What “Protected Fields” Means
Protected Fields lets you mark specific fields as private such as name, email, background categories, or individual survey questions that could reveal identity or contain confidential information.
In Survey Automator, only users assigned as Protection Managers can see or export these protected fields at the respondent level. Everyone else can still edit the survey, manage responses, create segments, and export data – without ever viewing the sensitive columns.
How Survey Automator Makes Privacy Simple
In Survey Automator, Protected Fields are built in and is easily enabled. It’s designed to support real‑world research teams:
Safe collaboration
Teams keep filtering dashboards, comparing segments, and preparing reports without exposing protected fields.
Cleaner exports
Exports created by non‑managers automatically exclude protected columns, reducing accidental data exposure.
When to Use Protected Fields
Protected Fields helps any project where privacy and momentum must coexist:
● HR & employee engagement surveys
Keep identities and sensitive items private while sharing manager‑level scorecards and trends.
● GDPR‑sensitive research
Limit access to PII in line with data minimization, without breaking day‑to‑day workflows.
Client‑confidential studies
Restrict access to classified background data while letting analysis continue as normal.
Privacy That Doesn’t Slow Down Your Team
With Protected Fields in place, everything else works as usual: your team keeps filtering dashboards to compare segments, spotting differences across regions, levels, or waves, sharing status updates and insights on schedule, and automating recurring deliverables, while protected fields remain hidden from non‑managers. You get the control you need for survey data privacy without slowing the work.
Why It’s Better Than All‑or‑Nothing Controls
● Project‑level lockdowns keep you safe but create gatekeepers and slow progress.
● Full anonymization protects identities but can limit longitudinal analysis and follow‑ups.
● Ad‑hoc copies are quick fixes that lead to version sprawl and higher risk.
Protected Fields offers a more balanced path: precise protection, open collaboration, and safer exports.
Make Your Next Survey Safer and Smarter
Before your next wave, decide which parts of your survey data truly need protection. Mark those as Protected Fields, assign a Protection Manager, and let your team keep working as usual. You’ll meet privacy expectations while staying fast.
Want to explore more ways to streamline your surveys?
Check out all our Survey Automator frequently asked questions to get the most out of your survey projects.