Let’s Have a Plática – Tengamos Una Plática: Practical Considerations and Lessons Learned From Conducting Pláticas in Three Different Settings

In the last decades, the Hispanic population in the United States has been growing rapidly bringing with it a variety of new languages, traditions, customs, and cultural influences (U.S. Census, 2021). With the incorporation of these influences to the community the necessity of a new and more cultural appropriate methodology emerged. This paper explores the methodology of pláticas , culturally relevant conversations used to engage Hispanic populations in research. It highlights the significance of pláticas in understanding shared cultural experiences and the importance of adapting research methods to fit the participants’ cultural contexts. The author draws on three distinct research projects where she used pláticas to collect data and provides practical guidelines and lessons learned for conducting them, emphasizing the need for researchers to build trust, choose appropriate settings, and utilize flexible protocols. Key considerations include understanding participants’ backgrounds, selecting the right timing and location for discussions, the necessity of preparing for unexpected shifts in conversation, and how to document the data depending on a different number of factors. Ultimately, pláticas emerge as a valuable methodology for qualitative research, fostering deeper engagement and more detailed data collection.