It's not my area of specialty and it's been a while since I've read the book, but a pioneer of microhistories, Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, wrote a book called (in trans.), "Montaillou: Promised Land of Error."

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It's a microhistory, so very specific to a time, place, and people (modern Ariege, France, I believe, over the course of about 12 years during the Albigensian Crusade). The history of the village of Montaillou and its population is written from the encyclopedic notes and interviews done by the inquisitor Jacque Fournier. While reading it, I recall being surprised that it didn't seem to take much to see if someone was a Cathar or not. Most Cathars at this time/place seemed to be pretty open about their beliefs and many people were taken into custody by the inquisitors because they were openly speaking about their religion or speaking against the Catholic Church to their neighbors, friends, and family. It also seems that even under questioning, many of the residents were pretty honest about their beliefs (I don't know if extortion of some sort like torture was done, but not written about).

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I don't know if this was common to all the people of Occitan swept up in the Crusade, but in this instance, it seems people were not afraid of expressing their opinions, even to inquisitors. At this point, though, things weren't quite to the severity of the Spanish Inquistion. It seems most punishments were seizure of property (and people had scant little anyway) and forceful pilgrimage, after which, the person was considered atoned for their erroneous beliefs. Of course, it also seemed to me that much of these people were speaking/acting freely before the inquisition arrived, so perhaps residents learned to keep such things to themselves once it was known their beliefs might put them in danger.