Micro-Raman scattering and photoreflectance spectroscopies have been used to study the strain in the barriers of capped and uncapped InAs/GaAs self-assembled quantum dot structures. Both types of measurements were performed at room temperature. In the photoreflectance spectra, the features containing the E0 transition of GaAs barrier is analyzed. The transition energy of the capped layer is higher than the unstrained GaAs band gap energy. Raman scattering spectra also showed the strain-shifted LO phonon for the barrier. The strains calculated from the photoreflectance measurements and the LO phonon frequency shift are in good agreement. The results reveal that the uniaxial-like compressive strain of the barrier is 2.8% for the capped sample and 0.2% for the uncapped sample.