accessing data in a controller

[eluser]richzilla[/eluser]
Hi all, just a bit of a question regarding data access. Im having trouble accessing returned data in a controller, im sure im just missing something very obvious but i cant see it at all.

if i return data from my model to my controller as follows:

Code:

return $query->result();

Does that mean that i can access the data in the controller as follows:

Code:

$variable = $whatever-the-model-returned;
$variable->db_col;

so far all ive done is pass data straight to a view, where it goes as an array, but model appears to return an object, however im now starting to do my own apps an im getting a bit confused by this. Any help would be appreciated, just to straighten things out for me.
cheers