Yeah, rolling for things where you have no idea how well you did is awkward. Hiding it certainly sounds better than what you described. Better still might be to scrap Research rolls entirely. It sounds like you are getting exactly zero bang for your buck on those. If it must be determined whether or not the characters turn up correct info, you could instead:
a) Just let the GM decide. It ain't cheating if you agree to it. Agree on some constraints for what's fun, to help guide the GM's decisions. If the GM is stumped, they can secretly flip a coin.
b) Roleplay it out. Show us what you're doing to find the info, step by step. The GM will respond step by step. At the end, you'll have some info, and a very good idea of why it might or might not be correct.
These approaches lose the difficulty-modeling simulation of "how likely is this character to be able to research this topic?" Is that okay? Even if it's not perfect, is it worth it, considering the current costs of the simulation?