// PARTICIPANTS
Milestones and compliance
Milestones are the checkpoints that define what you need to complete during a study. Your compliance score — calculated from verified milestones — determines payout eligibility.
How milestones work
Each study defines a set of milestones organized by week. A milestone represents a required task, checkpoint, or submission within the study protocol. Examples include:
- —Complete a baseline intake survey
- —Ship a stool sample
- —Log symptoms daily for one week
- —Complete a midpoint questionnaire
- —Confirm wearable data sync
Milestones are not generated in your dashboard until the study commences. Once the researcher launches the study, your milestone checklist appears with due dates calculated from the study start date.
Milestone types
There are two types of milestones:
Self-report — You mark the milestone as completed. The researcher then reviews and verifies your submission. Until the researcher verifies it, the milestone shows as "Submitted — awaiting verification."
Experimenter-confirm — The researcher marks this milestone as completed (e.g., they confirm they received your sample kit). You will see "Waiting for confirmation" until it is verified.
Milestone statuses
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Pending | Not yet due or not yet started |
| Submitted | You have marked it complete, awaiting researcher verification |
| Verified | The researcher has confirmed completion |
| Rejected | The researcher did not accept your submission — you may need to redo it |
| Overdue | Past due date but not yet missed |
| Missed | More than 7 days overdue — counts against your compliance |
Compliance scoring
Your compliance score for a study is calculated as:
There are no weights. Each milestone counts equally. The score is binary per milestone: verified counts as complete, everything else does not.
Each study has a compliance threshold set by the researcher (typically 80%). Your payout eligibility depends on meeting this threshold.
Reminders
BIOME sends reminders for upcoming and overdue milestones:
- —2 days before a milestone is due: in-app notification
- —1 day after a milestone is overdue: in-app notification and warning in dashboard
- —7 days overdue: milestone automatically marked as "missed"
If you have enabled email notifications in your settings, you will also receive email reminders.