Really, there’s primarily two mediation and arbitration and the distinction would be in an arbitration setting you are going before a third party neutral who is actually going to make a decision.  You put in the evidence, much like a mini trial and at the end of that, the arbitrator will make a decision and one person will win and one person will lose.  In a mediation setting the neutral, their client, if you will is really settlement.  The mediator will work hard towards bringing the parties together in effort to try to resolve the matter, but the distinction being that in the end of mediation no one has to enter into the settlement unless they want to enter into a settlement.