CHARACTERIZING SOFTWARE QUALITY ASSURANCE PRACTICES IN KENYA

Given the increased reliance on technology, Software Quality Assurance(SQA) has become a vital area in Software Engineering (SE). SQA practices require training, cost and often take more time than actual code writing. Owing to these requirements, software developers often ignore or partly implement SQA practices, leading to potentially poor quality software development. The goal of the study is to characterise SQA practices of software developers in Kenya. As such, quantitative empirical research was conducted. Seventy-seven (N=77) completed questionnaires were received and analysed to yield the required insights. The analysis of the findings indicates compliance with SQA practices. However, the research unearths concerns such as failure to comply with Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) models as having the potential to lower the quality of software products. The assessment found that Unit testing was the most common type of software test. Based on the findings and literature, recommendations are made. The need to improve software engineering education and invest in software testing is underscored. The results can be generalised to most developing countries and used by software developers and trainers to identify areas in SQA that need strengthening.