correect me if im wrong but dose it make you have a stiffer ride say if you have 8 way adjustable your ride would be stiffer on 8 as apposed to 1

 

Adjustable damping allows you to change the damping characteristics of a damper to suit varying conditions.
There is no 8-way adjustable damper on the market. AFAIK the most ways of adjustment that is currently marketed is 4, seen on some of the high-end Moton and Penske pieces, as well as some others. A more accurate term is "levels" of damping, which is what you are referring to.
Most commonly, rebound is what is adjustable in a single-way adjustable damper. Rebound has a large effect on ride quality, and generally when you stiffen the damping, ride harshness will increase. The purpose of adjusting the damping is to change how much the damper controls the oscillations of the spring; in rebound adjustment, it controls how much the damper will resist the spring's upward push on that corner, its extension. There are many results.
A higher number's damping relative to a lower number's is arbitrary, up to the manufacturer to decide. But a higher damping level will be stiffer than a lower's.