# How to create item parcels in SPSS Amos?

I am trying to run a SEM to see the causal relationship among latent variables. I ran the CFA and SEM using Amos, but I realized that the model is very complicated since one factor, which I originally thought to be unidimensional, is two-dimensional, and that makes the model look very messy. Since that factor is not derived from a theoretical background, it seems hard to force to use it as unidimensional. Also, a construct validity test also indicated that the factor is two-dimensional.

I know that creating parcels and running the path model has lots of limitations, such as not including error, and it is not necessarily used to create a parsimonious model, but I want to compare whether there are any big differences between CFA and a model with item parceling.

I saw lots of articles that have debated item parceling, but couldn't find how to conduct item parceling in Amos. How can I conduct item parceling in Amos? Thanks!

• You create the parcels before you do the SEM, so you create parcels by summing or averaging items in SPSS. – Jeremy Miles May 27 '14 at 2:20
• Hi Jeremy. Thank you for your response. So, you mean that go to "Transform"->"Compute variable" and either create summing items variables or mean items variables? Which is more common to use? To me, mean items seem more make sense.Last step seems after creating these new variables, treating them like observed variables...I can see that why item parceling is so controversial..Several articles have mentioned that I should not use item parceling if the EFA result indicated that factor is not unidimensional..can I ask why it should be unidimensional? – user46203 May 27 '14 at 3:02

compute parcel1 = mean(i1, i2, i3).