Activity Four

  1. Access COCA: Register or log in to the COCA website to start your research.
  2. Research Question: Consider how the prominence of “Pizza Hut” and “Chipotle” has changed over ime and what this might suggest about their impact on American culture. You may alternatively compare other restaurants or stores.
  3. Data Collection: 
    1. Peform separate searches for “Pizza Hut” and “Chipotle.”
    2. Record their frequency of mention by decade (1990s, 2000s, 2010s, 2020s).
    3. Note any significant trends or patterns, especially in relation to each other.
  4. Analysis:
    1. Analyze the data to identify trends in the usage of “Pizza Hut” vs. “Chipotle.”
    2. Consider factors like changes in dining habits, brand expansion, or cultural shifts.
  5. Report: 
    1. Write a concise paragraph (and post) that included.
      1. Introduction of your research question
      2. Summary of your methodology and data collection process. IN other words, how did you search.
      3. Presentation of your findings with supporting data. Provide some specific numbers and/or visuals.
      4. Discussion of the implications of your findings.
      5. Conclusion reflecting on the cultural significance of these trends.
  6. Presentation:
    1. Prepare and include at least one graphic (bar chart, line graph) that illustrates your findings. Think of ways AI can help you do this. ChatGPT (without plugins) can’t do this directly, but probably could give you ideas. Google Sheets/Excel are obvious jumping off points.

Prompt Answers

Our research question is “How does the popularity of Pizza Hut versus Chipotle compare over the decades?” We searched for this question by using COCA to make and analyze charts to compare the popularity of both brands from the 1990s-2010s. Over time, the mentions of Pizza Hut in media declined from 1.34 to 0.42, while the mentions of Chipotle in media increased from 0.10 to 2.23, These findings suggest that Chipotle gained popularity from the 1990s-2010s while Pizza Hut lost popularity during this time. These trends show how our culture has changed throughout the decades. As more modern restaurants, importance of health, and different cultures of food became more popular, a restaurant that met all these requirements became more popular while a restaurant that did not became less popular.