The quantity #g# is the acceleration due to gravity near Earth's surface, #9.8# #"m/s"^2#.
The fact that it has the units #"m/s"^2# further indicates that this is an acceleration. If it were a force, there would be a mass component as well, and it would have units of #"kg"*"m/s"^2#, a.k.a. newtons, #"N"#.
The #g# value has no mass component, which basically means that it is independent of the mass of the object (sound familiar, from Newton's experiments?)
If a question wants an answer in #g#'s, it's simply asking for that object's acceleration expressed as a multiple (or a fraction) of #g#. For example, #43.5# #"m/s"^2# is the same as
#(43"m/s"^2)/(9.8"m/s"^2) = 4.4g#
