The first three steps of the spiral are about formulating and answering questions, so that you know what you need to learn during your research:

Objectives
These are the questions we are trying to answer. What do we need to know at this point in the design process? What are the knowledge gaps we need to fill?

Hypotheses
These are what we believe we already know. What are our team’s assumptions? What do we think we understand about our users, in terms of both their behaviors and our potential solutions to their needs?

Methods
These address how we plan to fill the gaps in our knowledge. Based on the time and people available, what methods should we select?
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Once you’ve answered the questions above and factored them into a one-page research plan that you can present to stakeholders, you can start gathering the knowledge you need through the selected research methods.

Conduct
Gather data through the methods we’ve selected.

Synthesize and Conclusion
Answer our research questions, and prove or disprove our hypotheses. Make sense of the data we’ve gathered to discover what opportunities and implications exist for our design efforts.

Source: http://uxdesign.smashingmagazine.com...user-research/.

Regards,