Throughout the International Drama in Education Research Institute (IDIERI) 2012 conference, practitioners in keynotes, presentations and workshops mentioned ethical dilemmas that arose in their work; wondering at times if they did the "right" thing. By addressing a moral imperative, practitioners can start to identify common ethical dilemmas and questions within applied theatre generally and research-based theatre specifically. Applied theatre, in which theatre is used for extra-theatrical purposes, and research-based theatre, which is a hybrid of theatre and research practices, transcend traditional boundaries of one discipline. A moral imperative which is not prescriptive, but serves to frame issues and situations from different perspectives can highlight the borders of one perspective and how it may create tensions within other ethical stances. By identifying these different frames of references, practices can be interpreted and translated throughout social, psychological, political and/or cultural settings. In 2010/2011, seeking a moral imperative to guide my work in research-based theatre, I surveyed six applied theatre practitioners deemed leaders in the field, namely Johnny Saldana, Jim Mienczakowski, Kathleen Gallagher, Tim Prentki, Anthony Jackson, and James Thompson. In this article, I address the moral imperative each suggested and link it to an ethical perspective identified in a multiple ethics paradigm model. Shapiro and Gross highlight four ethics: justice (dealing with laws, rights and policies), critique (challenging the status quo, and questioning oppression and social inequities), care (focusing on supportive and nurturing relationships) and profession (setting a high moral standard and code for a specific vocation). In addition, Branson adds a fifth ethic to Shapiro and Gross's model: moral integrity (challenging ethical leaders to consciously analyse, judge, and determine why they choose a particular ethic and course of action). I then put forward a synergised moral imperative which may help theatre-based researchers in particular, and applied theatre practitioners in general, to think about ethical issues in a comprehensive manner to support their own ethical practice and further discussions towards new ethical paradigms in the field.