The Socratic Forum is an excellent cash-based site that has earned me $71 since March 28, 2008 and which currently ranks 17th out of my top 25 survey sites. Although the Socratic Forum does not send out many survey invitations, they are very legitimate, interesting and well compensated. I have completed 17 surveys over the past 15 months for incentives of $2 to $5 on the topics of spending, music, entertainment, eating habits, webcams and other computer peripherals. Most surveys are between five and 25 minutes, with longer surveys earning higher amounts. They pay by check in increments of $5 with a minimum $5 cash out, which usually arrives in about six to eight weeks. If you invite your friends to join, using a special code tied to your member ID, you and your friend have the chance to win $5,000 each. They also have a monthly sweepstakes which you are entered into automatically each time you complete a survey. Here is a list of the amounts earned by winners:

July 2009 Socratic Forum panelists received $4,350 for participating in 12 different surveys.
June 2009 Socratic Forum panelists received $12,538 for participating in 23 different surveys.
May 2009 Socratic Forum panelists received $16,976 for participating in 19 different surveys.
April 2009 Socratic Forum panelists received $13,893 for participating in 16 different surveys.
March 2009 Socratic Forum panelists received $20,930 for participating in 18 different surveys.
February 2009 Socratic Forum panelists received $18,578 for participating in 14 different surveys.

Although surveys are available for three to five days after the email invitation is sent, it’s best to complete them as soon as possible because they often reach their quota of respondents quickly. If you are unable to complete a survey for some reason, you are usually able to rejoin the survey at the point you left off. To resume the survey, either click on or copy and paste into your browser the original URL you used to start. Be sure to use the same email address to enter the survey that you previously used. Customer service is readily available through their website or by calling 1-800-5-SOCRATIC (1-800-576-2728).

As one of the founding members of the Interactive Marketing Research Organization (IMRO), Socratic Technologies has taken the lead in promoting high ethical standards in marketing research. Socratic Forum is managed by Socratic Technologies (http://www.sotech.com), an independent marketing research agency specializing in Web-based research for the high-technology industry. All surveys are being conducted for market research purposes only. No one will ever try to sell you anything as a result of your membership in the panel or as a result of your participation in one of their surveys. The Socratic Forum guarantees that:

• None of your personal information will ever be released to anyone without your explicit permission.
• Your answers will be kept strictly confidential.
• Your answers will be combined with hundreds of other participants’ answers and only reported in aggregate.