Lawrence Xavier Thuku

I am currently a PhD Candidate at the University of Nairobi (UoN-Kenya) School of Computing and Informatics involved in an Agent-Based methodology for mobile applications development research where multiple methods of data collection are used. In this research am involved in proposal writing, questionnaire design and data analysis and presentation of the results. The research intends to use R and Nvivo as tools for quantitative and qualitative data analysis and presentation respectively. To visualize the results quantitative data while using R, I have used Histograms, box plots and bar charts and while using Nvivo for qualitative analysis, tools such as word trees, mind maps, concept maps, cluster analysis and comparison diagrams have been used.

I also hold a Master’s of Science Degree in Information Technology (Msc. IT) from Strathmore University. I was involved in designing and developing research questionnaires, compiling information from a wide variety of sources, accurately monitoring, investigating and analyzing all statistical information and interpretation and presentation of the results. This was achieved by using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) tool for data analysis and presentation. To visualize the results, I used clustered bar charts, pie charts and area charts.

In addition, I have been involved in facilitating training on Introduction to R at the Training Centre in Communication (TCC)-University of Nairobi. The trainings involved people from different organisations who wanted to utilize R as an open-source programming language for data analysis and presentation. During the trainings, we explored the power of R statistical capabilities in analyzing big data through transformations, subsetting and “cleaning”, to enable them carry out exploratory analysis. In addition we were also able to import data in a variety of formats and perform analysis and present results.

Using and training on R, SPSS and Nvivo, has helped  me in conducting mixed methods research in order to collect, organise and analyse content/data from a wide range of sources.