are dividend payments and dividend yield the same thing? or do they completely different things?

Answer 1

They're different things but are related. Dividend payments are the cash dividends you receive. Dividend yield is the ratio of dividends paid to the cost of the security.

If you pay $100.00 for a stock and receive $4.00 in dividends, your cash dividend is (obviously) $4.00 and the yield is 4%.