abstract
- The perception of mathematics as a complex and inapplicable subject among social science undergraduates has been a persistent issue in higher education. This lack of engagement and motivation towards mathematics can hinder the students' ability to effectively participate in the Globalized and Knowledge Society. This study aims to contribute to the solution of this problem by analyzing their perception when learning mathematics through contextualized problems in their professional practice. The results show that learning mathematics through contextualized problems in professional practice improves the perceived usefulness of mathematics by social science undergraduate's, potentially increasing their engagement and learning motivation toward the subject. Moreover, the study found that both conventional analysis and analysis using data mining techniques complement each other, although both approaches lead to similar conclusions. Conventional qualitative analysis provides a deeper understanding of the data, while text analysis holds the advantage of analyzing large datasets, but its interpretation heavily depends on the researcher's expertise.